Day 8 Roundup: Tsonga upsets Berdych to light up Roland Garros

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dismissed Czech star Tomas Berdych to delight the local spectators who came to Roland Garros and just found all play halted for more than two hours by rain on Sunday.

The No. 14 seed made through to the quarter-finals with a thrilling 6-3, 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory while the fourth-seeded Berdych got really upset with his demand of suspending the match amid drizzle denied and booed by fans.

Having wafted a backhand long, Berdych granted the injury-plagued Tsonga the victory, his very first over a top 10 player at a Grand Slam since he ousted Roger Federer here in 2013.

The Frenchman, one of the six players over 30 to feature in the last 16, will next play title tips Kei Nishikori of Japan.

"I was just trying to hang in there as much as I could. I was way far from my best tennis that I can play, and it's definitely a very disappointing loss for me," Berdych told a post-match press conference.

"It's not the time that I want to go home from this event. But that's how it is."

Tsonga, on the contrary, was quite upbeat, saying that "I'm feeling good. I'm playing good tennis. I'm solid."

"I have people around me who stay positive for me, and they help me to never give up," he spoke of the home crowd. "That's why I'm happy today, because the confidence is back."

Gael Monfils was also doing well on Sunday, tying world No. 2 Roger Federer at one set all, when their last 16 showcase was suspended for darkness.

The pair walked onto Court Philippe Chatrier at 1913 CET after a day of rain interruptions, before the top-rated Frenchman, seeded the 13th here, lost the first set 6-3 to the Swiss but pulled back the second 6-4.

He will resume the match against the 17-times major winner in Monday's second match on the central court not before 1230.

The winner will play another Swiss Stan Wawrinka in the quarters after the eighth seed saw off France's Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Alize Cornet felt frustrated as her first last 16 appearance of her home Slam was stopped by rain when she went 5-0 down, and a tight call went against her on break point down at 5-5 in the second set.

Her 20-year-old opponent Elina Svitolinaof of Ukraine wrapped it up 6-2, 7-6 (9) to set up a quarter-final against with former champion and world No 1 Ana Ivanovic.

The Serbian seventh-seeded Ivanovic, who'll be appearing in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time since winning the title in 2008, beat Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.

Two of the scheduled women's fourth-round matches were postponed, namely Sharapova's clash against Czech 13th seed Lucie Safarova and Italian Flavia Pennetta's meeting with Spain's Garbine Muguruza.

Elsewhere at Roland Garros, China's doubles specialist Zheng Jie suffered a third-round exit as her partner Chan Yung-Jan and Zheng lost to Spaniards Silvia Soler-Esino and Maria-Teresa, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6). Enditem