Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeats Fernando Gonzalez; keep French hopes alive– Wimbledon Championships 2011
French hopes stood high at the Wimbledon Championships, as the 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga ousted Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in the third round on Saturday afternoon, at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
in Wimbledon, London, England.
The tall Frenchman took just one hour and twenty four minutes to wrap up a straight sets victory over the Chilean opponent, ending the match at 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, to qualify for the pre-quarter-final stage of the third Grand Slam tournament
of the running year. 17th seed Richard Gasquet and 19th seed Michael Llodra are his other fellow compatriots who have made it into the fourth round of the Wimbledon Championships this year.
Gonzalez first faced Tsonga in singles clash two years back at the US Open, where he defeated the French 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-4, to make it into the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam event. The Chilean failed to replicate the similar
performance with his racquet, as Tsonga avenged his defeat to level their head-to-head record at 1-1.
The Saturday’s encounter was an all-French show, with Tsonga dominating his opponent in every segment of the game. The French is well reckoned for his powerful serve game, something most evidently witnessed throughout the matchup
against Gonzalez. Tsonga delivered 78 per cent of his serve on target, firing 29 thudding aces in the contest and amazingly bagged 50 out of 56 first serve points en route to victory.
Gonzalez proved too bleak for the aggressive game of the French and submitted the contest in straight sets to end his voyage at the Grand Slam tournament. He dropped the first set in the opening 22 minutes of play to get on the
back foot right from the beginning. The Chilean never recovered from the early setback he had in the match and his poor slump continued till the conclusion of the match in the third set.
Tsonga never dropped serve in the entire contest and successfully defended the three break points he faced, while he converted four out of eight break opportunities to seal victory. The hard-hitting Tsonga belted 48 cracking winners,
with Gonzalez lagging far behind with merely 21 winners to lose the matchup and letting Tsonga in the fourth round of Wimbledon.
Seventh seed David Ferrer of Spain is up next for Tsonga in the fourth round of the tournament. Ferrer was successful against the Slovakian qualifier, Karol Beck, in the third round to book a date with Tsonga for a place in the
quarter-finals.
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