Top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga moved confidently through to the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon quarter-finals as he dismissed last week’s If Stockholm Open runner-up Olivier Rochus 6-3, 6-2 Thursday at the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament.

World No. 8 Tsonga fired 13 aces and surrendered only 12 points on serve throughout the 64-minute match. The Frenchman saved both break points he faced, while converting three of four break point opportunities on Rochus’ serve.

The 24-year-old Tsonga has reached the semi-finals in Lyon the past two seasons and is looking for his second ATP World Tour title on home soil this year after triumphing at the Open 13 in Marseille (d. Llodra). The Le Mans native is currently 11th in the year-to-date South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings as he looks to clinch one of the final two berths at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, but cannot add any points to his total this week as he has already won two ATP World Tour 250 tournaments this season.

One player who would benefit from a good run this week is second seed Gilles Simon, who needed just 52 minutes to oust fellow Frenchman David Guez 6-1, 6-2. Simon saved all six break points he faced on serve, while capitalising on four of the five opportunities he created on qualifier Guez’s serve.

The 24-year-old Simon, currently 13th in the year-to-date South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, could add 160 points to his tally should he win his second ATP World Tour title of the season this week. The right-hander triumphed at the PTT Thailand Open at the start of the month (d. Troicki) and has compiled a 41-26 match record on the season.

Third seed Ivan Ljubicic, the 2001 champion, fired 27 aces past Nicolas Kiefer in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win.  Ljubicic converted two of 11 break point opportunities to extend his record to 4-0 over No. 98-ranked Kiefer, who hit nine aces. 

It was the pair's first meeting since the 2006 ARAG ATP World Team Championships final at Dusseldorf. The 30-year-old Ljubicic improved to a 28-21 match record and will challenge France's Florent Serra in his eighth ATP World Tour quarter-final of the year.

Marc Gicquel, the 2006 and 2007 finalist, hit 10 aces past French compatriot and No. 6 seed Paul-Henri Mathieu, the 2002 champion, in a 6-4, 6-0 victory in 72 minutes.

He improved to 21-24 on the year, highlighted by quarter-final exits at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam (l. to Murray), the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca (l. to Andreev) and the Indianapolis Tennis Championships (l. to Querrey).

Gicquel will next face wild-carded compatriot Michael Llodra, who converted two of five break point opportunities and hit 11 aces to beat fourth-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco 6-3, 6-4 in 75 minutes.  Through to his third quarter-final this year, World No. 107 Llodra has a 15-14 match record highlighted by one final appearance at the Open 13 in Marseille (l. to Tsonga). 

World No. 30 Monaco has finished runner-up at three finals this year at the Copa Telmex in Buenos Aires (l. to Robredo), the Catella Swedish Open in Bastad (l. to Soderling) and the BCR Open Romanian in Bucharest (l Montanes). He dropped to a 34-33 mark this year.

French wild card Arnaud Clement, the 2002 winner, overcame seventh seed Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-4, 6-3 in 82 minutes to set up a quarter-final clash with Tsonga.  Last week, Clement advanced to the If Stockholm Open quarter-finals (l. to Baghdatis).