<p>With the May 23-June 6 French Open looming, the local favourite was his usual buoyant self for more than two hours as he overcame a misfiring first serve to knock out Almagro. <br />Tsonga gave a thrilled crowd the thumbs up as he twirled around the court after shaking his opponent's hand. <br /><br />"With all these Spaniards in my part of the draw, I knew it would be complicated from the start," Tsonga told a reporter as the claycourt behind him was being watered down for Richard Gasquet's match against Czech Tomas Berdych. <br />Tsonga will next face either former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero or German Benjamin Becker. <br /><br />Tsonga was put on the back foot early on, saving seven break points in his first two service games. In the fourth game, he looked particularly upset after a couple of calls went against him and he quizzed umpire Carlos Bernardes loudly with the full backing of the roaring fans. <br /><br />Bernardes refused to back down and within seconds an equally frustrated Almagro was also questioning the umpire after he felt he had been on the receiving end of a wrong line call. <br /><br />Tsonga quickly put the episode behind him and as rain started to fall during the tiebreak, the Frenchman kept a cool head to bag it 7-5 with an exquisite crosscourt forehand winner. ?<br /><br />Almagro's fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco had a more enjoyable outing on Tuesday and made quite an impression on a clueless Julien Benneteau, who surrendered 6-2, 6-1. <br />Gasquet followed Tsonga on to the main stage but barely allowed the court to get dry as he suffered an embarrassing 6-2, 6-0 defeat by Berdych.Croatian fourth seed Marin Cilic survived chilly weather and a bold challenge from Russian Igor Andreev to start his campaign with a 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 win. Cilic fell behind after losing the first-set tiebreak 7-4 before finding better angles to unsettle Andreev on a windswept centre court. <br /></p>
<p>With the May 23-June 6 French Open looming, the local favourite was his usual buoyant self for more than two hours as he overcame a misfiring first serve to knock out Almagro. <br />Tsonga gave a thrilled crowd the thumbs up as he twirled around the court after shaking his opponent's hand. <br /><br />"With all these Spaniards in my part of the draw, I knew it would be complicated from the start," Tsonga told a reporter as the claycourt behind him was being watered down for Richard Gasquet's match against Czech Tomas Berdych. <br />Tsonga will next face either former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero or German Benjamin Becker. <br /><br />Tsonga was put on the back foot early on, saving seven break points in his first two service games. In the fourth game, he looked particularly upset after a couple of calls went against him and he quizzed umpire Carlos Bernardes loudly with the full backing of the roaring fans. <br /><br />Bernardes refused to back down and within seconds an equally frustrated Almagro was also questioning the umpire after he felt he had been on the receiving end of a wrong line call. <br /><br />Tsonga quickly put the episode behind him and as rain started to fall during the tiebreak, the Frenchman kept a cool head to bag it 7-5 with an exquisite crosscourt forehand winner. ?<br /><br />Almagro's fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco had a more enjoyable outing on Tuesday and made quite an impression on a clueless Julien Benneteau, who surrendered 6-2, 6-1. <br />Gasquet followed Tsonga on to the main stage but barely allowed the court to get dry as he suffered an embarrassing 6-2, 6-0 defeat by Berdych.Croatian fourth seed Marin Cilic survived chilly weather and a bold challenge from Russian Igor Andreev to start his campaign with a 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 win. Cilic fell behind after losing the first-set tiebreak 7-4 before finding better angles to unsettle Andreev on a windswept centre court. <br /></p>