SPORTS

 MONTE CARLO: Croatian fourth seed Marin Cilic flirted with danger against Russian Igor Andreev in his first clay court match of the season before prevailing 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 6-4 in their second round clash.

Former Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga played to the crowd as the charismatic Frenchman finally made his main-draw debut in the principality, defeating Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 also in the second round.

Spain's sixth seed Fernando Verdasco started with a win over France's Julien Benneteau 6-2, 6-1 while other home players came through.

There were wins for Michael Llodra, who put out Italian Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-3 and Florent Serra, a winner over Gallic compatriot Stephane Robert 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 6-4.

Miami finalist and tenth seed Tomas Berdych ended the hopes of fragile Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-0 with the loser still taking time to recover from his doping drama and successful court appeal of last season.

Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka repeated his Casablanca title victory of last Sunday as he again beat Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-2, 6-4.