Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bounces over Andrey Kuznetsov in opening round – French Open 2012
French number one, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, made an epic comeback from a set down to outmuscle the Russian qualifier, Andrey Kuznetsov, in four sets at the Roland Garros 2012 on Sunday. He nudged up a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 success against the 21-year-old to advance
into the second round at this second of the four Grand Slam event held in Paris, France.
Tsonga made a drastic start at his home Grand Slam event but stayed focused and carved out the victory in their first encounter. As a result, the French not only edged in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head series by 1-0 against the world number 159 but also secured
a place in the round of 64.
After Rome Masters, Tsonga stated that no French contender has a chance to triumph this prestigious clay court tournament. However, he had a different opinion after winning this match.
"I haven't won the US Open, the Australian Open, or Wimbledon [either]," the French commented in a post-match interview. "So of course I have an ambition to win one day. If it's in two weeks' time, well, all the best. But I'm quite pragmatic. You have to
be sometimes. If you want to go far at one stage, you need to take a step back and see what you need to do."
Kuznetsov thundered into the Philippe Chatrier court and quickly held his opening serve. After Tsonga kept his opening serve, the Russian unleashed his skills and wiped out the last five games in a row, eventually pulling out the opener with a breadstick.
The 27-year-old on the other end rebounded in the following set and swiftly swiped in his entire serves without facing any breakpoint. He got the breakthrough in the fourth game and subsequently equalised the set scores with a 6-3 victory.
Tsonga kept momentum rolling in the following set and after exchanging two serve breaks, he jumped to a 5-1 lead. The French held his serve once more and sealed the set by winning six games to two.
Fifth ranked Tsonga’s skills were fully polished in the fourth set. He dusted away both breakpoints he faced to pluck his entire serves. The French capitalised on one out of four break opportunities in the fifth game and clicked the set with a 6-4 win.
Up next for the local star is the German challenger, Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, who registered a 6-3, 2-0 retirement victory over Brazil’s Joao Souza.
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