No mercy from Tsonga for old pal Ouanna

Paris:

Eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga booked his place in the French Open third round with an imperious 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 win over French compatriot and childhood friend Josselin Ouanna on Wednesday.

Tsonga, the world number 10, will face either Spanish number 32 seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or Dutchman Thiemo De Bakker in the next round.

Ouanna, 24, and 25-year-old Tsonga came through France's elite sport training programme INSEP at the same time, trained together at Roland Garros and were living within 200 metres of each other as recently as two years ago.

Despite their familiarity, Ouanna dismissed suggestions that he had shown Tsonga too much respect.

"No, not at all," he said. "Had it been another player, it would have been the same. I did not think about the player in front of me.

"He has his own tactics. He knows me by heart, just like I know him. With his tactics it was easier for him to play his game."

Tsonga won their first ever professional meeting in Marseille earlier this year and he quickly assumed control of Wednesday's match on Court Suzanne Lenglen by taking the first set to love in 24 minutes.

Ouanna did not trouble the scorers until midway through the second set but Tsonga was in menacing form and he captured the set on his second set point when Ouanna nudged a return into the tramlines.

Tsonga, the runner-up at the 2008 Australian Open, achieved his best Roland Garros result last year when he went down to Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro in the last 16.

He was put under greater pressure by Ouanna in the third set but managed to secure the break of serve he needed to reach the last 32.