It was hard, but Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has finally passed the obstacle Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, winning in straight sets (6-3, 6-4) on Tuesday in his opening match in the Masters 1000 Paris-Bercy.

He is now only one victory away from qualification to the London Masters.

With the look of the bad days on his face, Tsonga didn't play his best tennis today; the French audience got a mix of unforced errors, bad choices and missed opportunities—some blessed bread for Garcia-Lopez, who collected points without demanding them.

But the Spaniard, in spite of an irreproachable technique, couldn't find the way to destabilize the Frenchman in Paris. Thus, he missed two break points in the middle of the first set (3-3) by being too "wait-and-see" behind his baseline.

Therefore, it is on a low-key performance that Tsonga qualifies for the second round. Since the beginning of autumn in indoor tournaments, "Jo" has alternated from very good (Metz & Vienna) to poor (second-round elimination in Shanghai, bad defeat in Valencia).

We hope to see some very good in Paris...soon.

In the post-match press conference, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga said he wanted to rapidly project himself into his next match. It will be Thursday, against Seppi or Almagro. In case of success—and Tsonga knows it—he would have his boarding pass to London.