PARIS (REUTERS) - French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired with a groin injury from his French Open third-round match against Latvia's Ernests Gulbis on Saturday.

Tsonga, who reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros last year, was leading 5-2 when he threw in the towel and left Court Philippe Chatrier with tears in his eyes.

"It is the same thing I had before the tournament. I just came on court pretty good, and feeling really good. The first game of the match I made a couple of slides, and on one of them I just felt a pain," Tsonga told a news conference.

"Then I continued a little bit, and it was becoming more and more painful. I knew it was over, because there was no chance I could play all match long like this and no chance that I could play in the next round."

Tsonga will only know the extent of the injury in "two or three days" once he has had an MRI scan.

The French number one said he rushed his comeback from injury to play in his home grand slam.

"When I arrived here, these were not the best conditions for me because I still had this injury. I had an injury two weeks before Roland Garros," the 2008 Australian Open runner-up said.

"It was really too soon. But I play tennis because I want to play the French Open.

"So I couldn't... throw the towel before (coming to) Roland Garros."

Gulbis will next face Belgian 12th seed David Goffin.