New York  - Slimmed-down seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga cut short the wrist injury comeback of Jarkko Nieminen as he defeated the Finn 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 Friday to reach the third round of the US Open.

The 2008 Australian open finalist will next face fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who beat Serb Viktor Troicki 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.

"It was a quick match," said Tsonga, who broke once in each set to get past Nieminen as the Finn played only his third match after missing four months due to wrist surgery. "I played great. I'm happy to go through this far."

Tsonga confessed that he has dropped a few kilograms in recent months as he works on fitness, which showed as he displayed his powerful game against Nieminen in one and three-quarter hours.

Croatian 16th seed Marin Cilic staged a career-fist comeback from two sets to love down, overhauling American Jesse Levine 4-6, 2-6, 6- 0, 6-3, 6-0.

2003 New York finalist Juan Carlos Ferrero performed a similar feat as he came back to oust German Philipp Petzschner 1-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

On the women's side, tenth seed Flavia Pennetta crushed Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1, 6-1 while Daniela Hantuchova ended the upset run of Vania King 6-2, 6-2 after the American had beaten 15th seed Samantha Stosur in the previous round.  dpa