CASABLANCA: Top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France won in straight sets on Monday and led the top five seeded players into the second round of the Grand Prix Hassan II tournament.

Tsonga defeated Albert Montanes of Spain, 6-4, 7-6 ( 12-10) to earn a second-round meeting against Algerian wildcard Lamine Ouahab.

Ouahab beat Argentina's Martin Vassallo Arguello 7-5, 6-2.

Countryman and fourth seed Marc Gicquel joined Tsonga in advancing, needing less than an hour to eliminate Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 6-3, 6-0.

Other top seeds needed three sets. No 2 Gael Monfils of France needed more than two hours to subdue Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-7 (8-10), 7-5, 6-0.
Third-seeded Argentine Agustin Calleri outlasted Thierry Ascione of France 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 and No 5 Julien Benneteau of France, likewise, had to overcome a first-set loss to defeat Florian Mayer of Germany 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

l STRASBOURG (France): Peng Shuai ousted third seed Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania in Monday's first round of the Internationaux de Strasbourg.

The 22-year-old from China advanced with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) win and will face top-seeded Marion Bartoli of France in the clay-court event billed as a warm-up to the French Open starting next week.

Defending champion Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain also advanced with a 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 victory over Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic.

Flavia Pennetta of Italy, the fourth seed, defeated France's Nathalie Dechy 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, while No 7 seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan toppled Ukraine's Mariya Koryttseva 7-5, 7-5. -- AP