METZ, France (AP) — Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga served 10 aces and saved all five break points to defeat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-6 (7), 6-4 at the Moselle Open on Wednesday.
Tsonga, who won the title in Metz in 2011 and 2012, was runner-up to fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon last year. He will face eighth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium or German Tobias Kamke in the quarterfinals of the indoor tournament.
Tsonga can still qualify for the ATP finals in London from Nov. 9-16 with a strong finish to the season. The Frenchman won his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title last month in Toronto with a straight-sets win over Roger Federer.
Goffin beat French qualifier Florent Serra 6-2, 6-2 while Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen set up a meeting with former Wimbledon semifinalist Jerzy Janowicz after beating Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-1, 6-4.
Local favorite Paul-Henri Mathieu joined Tsonga in the quarterfinals as he defeated fourth-seeded Czech Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-4.
Joao Sousa saved all four break points to beat Ivan Dodig 6-2, 6-2 in the first round while Jeremy Chardy got the better of Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (5), 7-5 in an all-French match.
The sixth-seeded Sousa will next play Igor Sijsling.
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