Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beats Tomas Berdych

Fourth seed Tomas Berdych crashed out of the French Open on Sunday as he was unable to cope with a powerful display from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Roland Garros.

Former French Open semi-finalist Berdych was put on the back foot by Tsonga for much of the rain-affected 6-3 6-2 6-7 (7-5) 6-3 defeat.

While the Czech became the first man to take a set off Tsonga at this year's competition, the 14th seed was not to be denied a quarter-final meeting with Kei Nishikori.

Home favourite Tsonga gained an early break courtesy of an overhit Berdych backhand - the Frenchman holding for a 4-1 lead before the rain set in.

It was Berdych who seemed the keener to return to action - voicing his point to umpire Carlos Ramos - but things remained bleak for Berdych when play resumed.

Tsonga held serve thoughout to move ahead and maintained momentum with an early break in the second set followed by some tenacious defensive play.

Berdych arrived at the tournament in fine form - reaching the quarter-final of every competition in 2015 - but made 15 unforced errors in surrendering a sloppy second set.

Tsonga was on course for a straight-sets victory when he served for the match at 5-4 but was instead made to serve out to ensure a tie-break.

Berdych fought back from 3-0 down - winning seven of the last nine points to give himself hope as Tsonga found the net at the crucial point.

Having deservedly got back into the match, two wayward forehands from Berdych afforded Tsonga double break-point at 4-3 - the first of which was claimed with a huge forehand down the line.

Three straight aces gave Tsonga with a glorious opportunity to put the match to bed and Berdych delighted many of those at Philippe Chatrier with a sliced backhand long past the baseline.