Rome Tennis 2012: Djokovic, Murray, Tsonga advance to Round of 16

Defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia advanced to the third round as he started his campaign to a second consecutive title at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2012 tennis tournament in Rome, Italy. Djokovic brushed aside Australian Bernard Tomic 63 63 to advance in 69 minutes. The top-ranked 24-year old is hoping to bounce back after failing to defend his Madrid Open title last week where he was upset by fellow Serb Janko Tipsaveric in the quarterfinals.

Joining Djokovic in the third round are the no. 4, no. 5, and no.6-seeded players. No. 4-seed Andy Murray had to work hard on his birthday to advance against former world no. 3 and Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian 61 46 75. Murray has failed to reach a semifinal in his two clay court events so far. No. 5-seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga downed Viktor Troicki in straight sets 63 62 and no. 6-seed David Ferrer downed fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 63 76(3). Verdasco is the first player to beat clay-court king Rafael Nadal in the third round last week in Madrid.

Also advancing in first round matches played on Tuesday included no. 10-seed Juan Martin del Potro, no. 11-seed Gilles Simon, no. 14-seed Juan Monaco, and no. 16-seed Richard Gasquet. Two lower seeds were ousted by unseeded Spaniards. Former world no. 1 and French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero downed no. 13-seed Gael Monfils of France 76 63 while Marc Granollers surprised no. 15-seed Feliciano Lopez 64 64.

Rome, Italy: Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2012 Results: Tuesday, 15 May, 2012

Men's Singles - Second Round
[1] N Djokovic (SRB) d B Tomic (AUS) 63 63
[4] A Murray (GBR) d D Nalbandian (ARG) 61 46 75
[6] D Ferrer (ESP) d F Verdasco (ESP) 63 76(3)
[5] J Tsonga (FRA) d V Troicki (SRB) 6-3, 6-2
J Ferrero (ESP) d [13] G Monfils (FRA) 75 63

Men's Singles - First Round
[10] J Del Potro (ARG) d M Llodra (FRA) 75 36 64
[11] G Simon (FRA) d D Young (USA) 62 75
[16] R Gasquet (FRA) d J Melzer (AUT) 61 76(6)
[14] J Monaco (ARG) d [Q] A Ungur (ROU) 62 62
M Granollers (ESP) d [15] F Lopez (ESP) 64 64
[Q] G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) d P Andujar (ESP) 64 61
[Q] S Querrey (USA) d J Nieminen (FIN) 76(4) 57 64
L Kubot (POL) d [WC] P Starace (ITA) 63 57 62