A pair of men’s seeds booked second-round spots at the Rome Masters yesterday as Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pulled the plug on his participation due to a training injury.
The sudden adductor problem with less than a fortnight left before the French Open is not good news for the seventh seed.
On court there were wins for Canadian tenth seed Milos Raonic, and 11th seed Richard Gasquet as second seed Andy Murray landed in Rome after splitting from coach Amelie Mauresmo a day after he lost the Madrid final to Novak Djokovic.
Tsonga said he would work to be fit for the start of Roland Garros.
“I was sick when I left Madrid for two days, and I came here and I tried to play a little bit to see how it goes,” Tsonga said.
“This morning I just stretched a little bit my adductor.”
Tsonga lost in the Madrid third round to Raonic and played a Monte Carlo semi-final against compatriot Gael Monfils last month.
“This is not something good to be a little bit injured before Roland Garros. I hope I will have the chance to recover quick enough to prepare as good as possible.”
Raonic defeated Italian Marco Cecchinato 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to line up a massive challenge against Nick Kyrgios in the next round.
Kyrgios hammered Italian wild card Salvatore Caruso 6-1, 6-2 after reaching the semi-finals in Estoril and the Madrid quarter-finals in his last two clay events.
“Clay is probably my least preferred surface, to be honest. But I actually don’t play too bad on it. I think it suits my game quite well,” the Australian said.
“It gives me time to set up and really go for my shots and then execute. If you’ve got a good serve you can serve for any surface.”
Kyrgios said he had not spoken with slumping Bernard Tomic, whose habit of giving away matches and not trying his best is becoming a major cross to bear for the Aussie.
“I haven’t really been hanging out with Bernard or speak to him too much,” Kyrgios said. “I’m sure something is not right.
“He doesn’t want to push it I think a couple weeks out from the French. that’s the main target, and obviously Wimbledon following after.”
Heavy hitters Kyrgios and Raonic stand level at 2-2 in their series, with the Australian winning the last two at Wimbledon last summer and Miami in March.
France’s Gasquet advanced past compatriot Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-0.
Murray meanwhile had broken ground as the first major ATP player to work with a female coach, which he did for almost two years with Mauresmo.
“I’ve learned a lot from Amélie over the past two years. She’s been a calming influence in the team and we’ll miss having her around,” Murray said in a statement.
“I’ll take some time to consider the next steps and how we progress from here, but I’d like to thank her for everything she has done, she’s been an invaluable member of the team.”
The relationship was interrupted last year as the Frenchwoman took time away to have a child, joining Murray by becoming a new parent last August.
Since then, her appearances in the team camp have been limited.
In women’s play, 1999 champion Venus Williams, the 12th seed, started with a defeat of Coco Vandeweghe, 6-4, 6-3 as Russian Darya Kasatkina put out Czech 16th seed Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-4.
“That was my first time playing against Coco. I hit with her a little bit at Fed Cup but I was not really sure what to expect.” William said.
“I imagine that on the clay I have a little bit more advantage, just having played more matches on clay. I think that helped a lot.”
Roland Garros finalist Lucie Safarova, the tenth seed, started with a defeat of veteran Italian wild card Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-2.

Key Results
Mens
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) beat Fabio Fognini (Italy) 6-1 7-6(2); Andreas Seppi (Italy) beat Vasek Pospisil (Canada) 7-6(5) 7-6(2); 10-Milos Raonic (Canada) beat Marco Cecchinato (Italy) 6-4 4-6 6-4; Nick Kyrgios (Australia) beat Salvatore Caruso (Italy) 6-1 6-2; 11-Richard Gasquet (France) beat Julien Benneteau (France) 6-3 6-0

Women
Monica Puig (Puerto Rico) beat 15-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) 6-1 4-6 6-1; Madison Keys (U.S.) beat Andrea Petkovic (Germany) 6-4 6-1; Heather Watson (Britain) beat 14-Sara Errani (Italy) 6-4 3-6 6-0; 10-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) beat Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-3 6-2; Misaki Doi (Japan) beat Alize Cornet (France) 7-6(2) 6-1; Darya Kasatkina (Russia) beat 16-Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) 6-4 6-4; 12-Venus Williams (U.S.) beat CoCo Vandeweghe (U.S.) 6-4 6-3