SHANGHAI, Oct 11: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat an error-prone Feliciano Lopez 7-6, 6-3 on Monday in the opening round of the Shanghai Masters for his first win since returning from a three-month injury layoff.

Both players held serve throughout the first set before Tsonga took control of the tiebreaker with two aces and a backhand passing shot. He clinched the set with a forehand winner that skidded off the line.

The 12th-seeded Tsonga earned the only break of the match to go up 2-0 in the second set and sealed the win when Lopez hit a backhand wide. Tsonga lost in the first round of the Tokyo Open last week, his first tournament since injuring his knee in a quarter-final loss to Andy Murray at Wimbledon.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

First round: Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) bt Gilles Simon (France) 6-4, 6-1; Jeremy Chardy (France) bt Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1; Thiemo de Bakker (Netherlands) bt 9-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 7-6 (7-4), 7-5; 13-Juergen Melzer (Austria) bt Yang Tsung-Hua (Taiwan) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) bt Eduardo Schwank (Argentina) 6-7 (8-10), 6-2, 6-4; 12-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) bt Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine) bt 16-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3); Tommy Robredo (Spain) bt Albert Montanes (Spain) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

STOSUR STROLLS

OSAKA (Japan): Samantha Stosur returned to Osaka, where she claimed her first career title a year ago, with a victory over Sachie Ishizu at the Japan Open tournament on Monday.

The Australian defending champion, who added another title at Charleston in April and reached the final at the French Open to reach her goal of entering the top 10, crushed the Wimbledon junior finalist from Japan 6-0, 6-3.

The $220,000 hard court tournament also includes former champions Marion Bartoli of France, Jill Craybas of the United States and Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan.

Second seed Bartoli overwhelmed her compatriot Julie Coin 6-2, 6-1, and now takes on Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland, who defeated Sophie Ferguson of Australia 6-4, 7-6.

Craybas and sixth seed Date will take on qualifiers in the first round.

Russia’s Maria Kirilenko, fourth seed, was another comfortable 6-1, 6-0 winner, over Japan’s Kurumi Nara, and will play Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan in the second round.

Results:

First round: 4-Maria Kirilenko (Russia) bt Kurumi Nara (Japan) 6-1, 6-0; Chang Kai-chen (Taiwan) bt Lilia Osterloh (US) 7-5, 6-4; 1-Samantha Stosur (Australia) bt Sachie Ishizu (Japan) 6-0, 6-3; 2-Marion Bartoli (France) bt Julie Coin (France) 6-2, 6-1; Stefanie Voegele (Switzerland) bt Sophie Ferguson (Australia) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); Coco Vandeweghe (US) bt 5-Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) 6-1, 6-2.—Agencies