Jo-Wilfried Tsonga cruises past Pere Riba in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open
As expected, the world number 22, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France had no difficulty in disposing off the Spaniard, Pere Riba, in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open on Tuesday. Being played at the Park Manzanares in Madrid,
Spain, Tsonga outclassed his opponent in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, to move into the third round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 1000 tournament.
The tall Frenchman displayed his sheer dominance over the clay courts by overwhelming his bleak opponent. He faced limited resistance from Riba, who appeared in all sorts of troubles against the mighty serve of Tsonga. The French
delivered 73 per cent of his first serve on target, while his opponent lagged behind with just 54 per cent.
Six aces were conceded by Tsonga, with two double faults in the entire contest. Although the 26-year-old French was not very agile, his power hitting compensated for it, as he belted plenty of winners down the line to drive Riba
out of the game. Tsonga secured 28 of 36 first serve points in the contest and was also brilliant with his return game as well.
The French crafted eight opportunities to break his opponent but could convert only half of them to his advantage. Tsonga suffered just one serve break, which was in the opening set, from Riba and denied him two times to convert
a break point. The Spaniard hung in for a while in the first set but was completely blown away in the next set to end his voyage at the Madrid Open.
The opener took off with early action from the two contestants. Tsonga was the first one to crack a serve break but Riba retaliated immediately to break the French serve and bring the game back on even terms. He held serve once
before Tsonga delivered another blow by registering his second serve break and closed out the opening set at 6-4 to get one up in the contest.
Things turned even worse in the following set as the French amazingly clinched 13 of 15 points on his 79 per cent precise serve. He struck two serve breaks to push Riba out of the contest. The Spaniard failed to go even near to
t break point and secured just two games before he submitted the match to his opponent at 2-6.
Tsonga will have to wait to know his third round opponent until the clash between world number five Robin Soderling of Sweden and Santiago Giraldo of Colombia is settled on Wednesday. The winner of the two will square off against
Tsonga in the next round.
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