Australian Open 2011: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sails to round three
2010 semi-finalist, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made it to the third round at the Australian Open 2011 on Thursday after a hard-fought three set win.
Having debuted in 2007, Tsonga’s career-best at the event came in 2008 when he defeated the likes of Rafael Nadal and moved into the final. However, he failed to clinch the title. In 2010, Tsonga made it all the way to the semis before losing to eventual
champion Roger Federer.
Coming into the second round, Tsonga met Italian Andreas Seppi. He beat Seppi in straight sets, but had to fight hard. Tsonga now moves into the third round where he will face Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Enjoying a comfortable 6-3 victory in the first set, Tsonga played two tiebreakers in the next two sets winning them 7-1 and 7-5 respectively.
Winning his match, the Frenchman said, “I'm really happy because I played better tennis than [Tuesday] and I'm just happy with my level today. I was healthy. I felt good on the court. So I'm okay.”
Also joining Tsonga in the next round is Austrian ace Jurgen Melzer. Seeded eleventh in the event, Melzer equalled his career-best at the event as he reached the third round on Thursday.
Kicking off the ninth straight year at the event, Melzer was pitted against qualifier Vincent Millot. Starting with a 6-2 victory in the first set, Melzer clinched a 6-4 victory in the second set before wrapping up his straight sets victory with a 6-2 win
in the third set.
Moving in the second round, Melzer was drawn against Spaniard Pere Riba. Maintaining his no set loss record, Melzer repeated his first round performance and moved ahead in the tournament by winning the match 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
Melzer will meet either Juan Martin del Potro or Marcos Baghdatis in the next round.
Joining these two top 20 seeds in the third round is qualifier Jan Hernych. The Czech upset 30th seed Thomaz Bellucci in five sets to secure a spot for himself in the third round. Hernych earlier defeated Denis Istomin in four sets and will play
fourth seed Robin Soderling in the next round.
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