Fifth seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the runner-up last year, saw off Argentina's Juan Monaco 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 to move into the Australian Open second round with ease today.
Fifth seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the runner-up last year, saw off Argentina's Juan Monaco 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 to move into the Australian Open second round with ease today.
The 23-year-old from Le Mans won over the Australian public with his thrilling run to the 2008 final, which included a memorable win over Rafael Nadal in the semis, and they were out in force again.
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Tsonga, who eventually lost to Novak Djokovic last year, looked in great touch as he recovered from a shaky start to dominate the South American baseliner with a mixture of powerful ground strokes and sheer athleticism.
He began slowly and lost his first service game to go down 2-0, but broke back immediately then broke Monaco again in the fifth, and held on to take a tight opening set in 40 minutes.
The Frenchman came out blazing in the second set and attacked the Argentine's serve, breaking him twice in succession and holding his own comfortably to quickly jump out to a 4-0 lead.
Tsonga went on to take the second set 6-4 and started the third in exactly the same manner, breaking Monaco twice and moving out to 4-0.
But this time there was no hint of a Monaco fightback and the World No 6 whipped through the final set in only 21 minutes.
He said he doesn't feel any pressure despite his performance last year.
"I try to play my best every time -- I just try to be as good as I can be," he said.
"I'm not feeling any pressure."
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