Tsonga suffers injury blow

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's hopes of reaching the ATP World Tour Finals are all but over after he crashed out at the Valencia Open.

Frenchman bows out in Valencia; Verdasco marches on

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's hopes of reaching the ATP World Tour Finals are all but over after he sustained a wrist injury during his first round clash at the Valencia Open. The Frenchman was forced to pull out of his encounter with Mikhail Youzhny whilst trailing 7-6 0-6 0-3 in Spain. Tsonga now faces a race against time to be fit for next week's Paris Masters, the final points-scoring event before the O2 showpiece. There was better news for Fernando Verdasco however, the Spaniard pressing his claims for a place at London with a first round victory over Oscar Hernandez. The fourth seed was cruising 6-1 0-1 before his unseeded opponent retired through injury. Gilles Simon, who also harbours hopes of securing a place at the O2, kept his faint hopes alive with a hard-fought 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory over Tomas Berdych to reach the quarter-finals. His French compatriot Gael Monfils was a second-round casualty though, the sixth seed crashing 6-2 7-5 to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. In other first-round matches, Janko Tipsarevic beat Victor Hanescu 6-4 6-3 while Feliciano Lopez saw off qualifier Alberto Martin 7-5 6-3 in an all-Spanish encounter.