Atp Marseille is a 28-player event on the men's tennis tour, one that will be played over the next several days. A 250-level event, the winner of the tournament will receive 250 ranking points, an eighth of the total that goes to a Grand Slam champion. The event isn't likely to shake up the top ten, however the 250-level tournaments can still help reveal who is in form on tour, even with the peripheral players.
Tsonga and Monfils received byes
Two players that have started the season strong that are in the Marseille draw are both Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils.
However, neither of those two players was active in the Marseille draw on Tuesday. They are each seeded top four and as such they were each advanced to the second round automatically along with Lucas Pouille and Nick Kyrgios.
Gasquet worked for a 2nd-round berth
One key player that wasn't seeded quite high enough to receive a first-round bye was Richard Gasquet. The Frenchman is the sixth seed in the tournament and having to play a first-round match almost cost him. He dropped the first set he played on Tuesday to Dutch player Robin Haase. However, after losing that set Gasquet was able to compose himself for the come-from-behind victory. He defeated Haase 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 and will face Mikhail Youzhny in the next round, a favorable match for Gasquet.
Other players that advanced included Sergiy Stakhovsky, Aljaz Bedene, Jan-Lennard Struff, and Nicolas Mahut. The latter pulled off the upset of the tournament thus far as he eliminated Alexander Zverev, the fifth seeded German player. Zverev entered the tournament with momentum as he had won ATP Montpellier early this month.
Mahut now has a very good look at making a deep run as he essentially high-jacked the 5 seed in the tournament. Next up is qualifier Norbert Gombos and then possibly the inconsistent Nick Kyrgios.
However, Monfils and Tsonga remain the players to beat on the respective top and bottom halves of the draw. Monfils played well in Australia while Tsonga did as well.
Furthermore, Tsonga won the Rotterdam title over the weekend, defeating David Goffin in the final. The Frenchman might be tired this week, but then a first-round bye would certainly help him with that as it's just three wins for him to get to the final.
