Tsonga wins big-hitting battle

Tsonga: Tough match

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is through to the third round of the Australian Open after prevailing in a big-hitting battle with Ivan Ljubicic.

The first three sets of the match all went to tie-breaks as both players looked dominant behind their serves.

The first two were split before Tsonga crucially won the third set despite facing three set points. The big-hitting match took its toll on the Croatian in the fourth as he lost his serve twice to fall to a 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 defeat.

"I played really well out there. I was proud of myself because I was very courageous today," the Frenchman said.

Tsonga, last year's runner-up, will face Dudi Sela in the next round after the Israeli breezed past Victor Hanescu in straight sets.

Crushing

Fernando Verdasco is also through to the last 32 after crushing victory over Arnaud Clement. The 14th needed little over an hour and a half to dispatch the Frenchman 6-1 6-1 6-2.

Two other seeds, Richard Gasquet and Fernando Gonzalez, also cruised through with straight sets victories over Denis Istomin and Guillermo Canas respectively.

Gasquet and Gonzalez will face each other in the third round with the winner potentially setting up a last 16 clash with Rafael Nadal.

In a match between two tall, big serving Croatians, Mario Ancic knocked out 24th seed Ivo Karlovic. Ancic came back from two sets to one down to triumph 5-7 7-5 4-6 6-4 6-3 in a three and a half hour long scrap.

Ancic will face world number eight Gilles Simon, who needed four sets to get past local favourite Chris Guccione 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-1 6-2.

Ninth-seed James Blake eased wasted little time in reaching the next round after recording a 6-3 6-2 6-3 victory over French qualifier Sebastien de Chaunac.