Jo-Wilfried Tsonga battles past Nicolas Mahut into last four – Moselle Open 2011
France’s number one tennis player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, had to toil a bit before he eventually registered a convincing victory against his fellow compatriot, the 92nd ranked Nicolas Mahut, in the quarterfinal clash of
the Moselle Open on Friday night.
The world number 10 battled for two hours and three minutes to wrap up the three-set thriller, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, forcing his way in to round of four the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament in Metz,
France.
The enthusiastic home crowd witnessed a brilliant display of power hitting from the top seed Tsonga, who outplayed Mahut for the second time in his career. The 10th ranked French moves into the semi-final draws to fight
for a place in his third World Tour final of the current year.
26-year-old Tsonga received an earl jolt in the matchup when the unseeded French opponent drove him out of the opening set to get one up in the contest. He resilient Tsonga made a tremendous recovery immediately in the game and
reeled off the remaining two sets to come out as the winner in the end.
“Nicolas is a fantastic player and I knew I was going to have a tough match,” Tsonga reflected in his post match reviews. “I think today I maybe missed the start and it took time for me to get into the match. I wasn’t easy and
it clearly could have gone both ways. I am happy I won, what counts in the end is the outcome of the match.”
The top seeded Frenchman fired 20 thudding aces in the matchup to earn some un-fought points. Mahut reeled off 40 out of 57 first serve points in the contest but Tsonga bettered him by clinching 45 out of 54 points comprehensively.
He converted two of his three break opportunities to outplay Mahut, who registered only one serve break in the whole matchup. A total of 173 points were played in the matchup, with the top seed clinching 96 points and Mahut lagging far behind with 77 points
to finish on the losing side in the end.
Tsonga will take on the third seeded Ukrainian, Alexandr Dolgopolov, in the semi-final clash on Saturday for a berth in the final of the Moselle Open. Dolgopolov cleared his quarter-final round as the sixth seed, Xavier Malisse
of Belgium, retired from the contest due to injury, sending the Ukrainian in to a battle against Tsonga.
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