Tsonga, Gasquet claim Moselle Open wins

METZ, France, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Top seeds Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet posted straight-set wins Thursday in second-round action of the Moselle Open tennis tournament in France.

Tsonga, the No. 1 seed, defeated fellow Frenchman Mathieu Rodrigues 6-3, 6-4. He lost his serve once -- the only break point he faced -- but still won 70 percent of the points on serve. He lost 16 points over 10 service games.

The second-seeded Gasquet dispatched Olivier Rochus 6-2, 6-1 in 65 minutes. Gasquet, who improved to 6-2 lifetime versus Rochus, had 10 aces and took almost three-quarters of the points on serve.

No. 6-seeded Xavier Malisse ousted Igor Kunitsyn 6-4, 6-2 with six breaks in nine receiving games but qualifier Igor Sijsling eliminated seventh-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 7-5. Sijsling didn't lose his serve in the match so was able to make one break in each set stand for a trip to the quarterfinals.

Thursday's other match saw Nicolas Mahut take out Arnaud Clement 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in a match that lasted 2 1/2 hours.

Tsonga will go against Mahut in Friday's quarterfinals with third-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov facing Malisse in the other top-half match. In the lower half of the draw, Gasquet will play eighth-seeded Gilles Muller and No. 4-seeded Ivan Ljubicic is paired against Sijsling.