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Verdasco through but Tsonga crashes out

Fernando Verdasco remains on course for the World Tour Finals after going through in Valencia.
Fernando Verdasco remains on course for the World Tour Finals after going through in Valencia.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Fernando Verdasco is through to the second round of the Valencia Open
  • The Spaniard occupies the last place for the World Tour Finals in London
  • But Jo-Wilfried Tsonga forced to quit tournament because of a wrist injury

(CNN) -- There were mixed fortunes for World Tour Finals contenders Fernando Verdasco and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Valencia Open on Wednesday.

Verdasco is currently occupying the last of the eight qualifying places for the prestigious end-of-season tournament in London later this month, which features the top players from 2009.

And the Spaniard had an easy time of things in his first-round match against Oscar Hernandez, losing only two games before his opponent retired with Verdasco leading 6-1 0-1.

But it was a different story for Frenchman Tsonga, who now faces a race to be fit for next week's Paris Masters -- the final points-scoring event -- after retiring in the third set of his match against Mikhail Youzhny with a left wrist injury.

Things began well enough for the third seed when he took the first set on a tie-break but he did not win another game and called it a day with Youzhny leading 6-7 6-0 3-0.

Gilles Simon, who is an outside bet to appear in London, kept his faint hopes alive with a hard-fought 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory over Tomas Berdych to become the first man to reach the quarterfinals.

However, sixth seed Gael Monfils was a second-round casualty, with the Frenchman going down 6-2 7-5 to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

In other first-round matches, Janko Tipsarevic beat Victor Hanescu 6-4 6-3 while Feliciano Lopez saw off qualifier Alberto Martin 7-5 6-3 in an all-Spanish encounter.