Tsonga, Almagro Win; Golubev Ends Horror Streak

© Getty ImagesIvo Karlovic hit 19 aces past Florian Mayer on Tuesday.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who is back in the Top 10 for the first time in 12 months, knocked out dangerous Croat Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

The French 15th seed dropped just six points on serve, hitting nine aces. He broke Cilic three times for his first win at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament. "I felt really good," said Tsonga. "It was really a fluid match. Everything was easy for me today."

Ninth seed Nicolas Almagro won 82 per cent of his service points to beat fellow Spaniard Albert Montanes 7-6(5), 6-4 in 77 minutes. Montanes had won their lone hard-court meeting earlier this year at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Kazakhstani Andrey Golubev recorded a confidence-boosting 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over No. 16 seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland. It was his first tour-level match win since March. Golubev had lost 18 straight matches and dropped outside the Top 100 of the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings. He won 64 per cent of his service points, including eight aces against Wawrinka, to improve to a 5-22 match record on the season.

"It was [a] good sensation," admitted Golubev. "I'm happy that it happens today. I think I played [a] great match. I think it doesn't matter against who you playing [when] you're not winning... matches. So it's only depends on you - how you're preparing [for the] match. I tried to be concentrate and stay focused on every ball."

Serbian Janko Tipsarevic, who is currently at a career-high World No. 20 on the back of a semi-final exit at the Rogers Cup (l. to Fish) last week, grinded out 6-0, 3-6, 7-6(5) victory over French qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin in two hours and 29 minutes.

Former World No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko, who reached the 2007 semi-finals (l. to Blake), defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine 6-2, 7-6(5) in just over 90 minutes. The 30-year-old Russian converted all three break point opportunities in the pair's first meeting for almost seven years (2004-Moscow).

Ivo Karlovic, the 32-year-old Croatian, fired 19 aces past German Florian Mayer for a 6-1, 6-3 win in just 58 minutes.

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