Jo-Wilfried Tsonga destroys Mathieu Rodrigues in second round – Moselle Open 2011
World number 10, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, forced his way into his fourth ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour quarter-final by overwhelming his fellow compatriot, Mathieu Rodrigues, in the second round of the
Moselle Open, in Metz, France, on Thursday night.
The top seeded Frenchman took one hour and sixteen minutes of play to wrap up a comprehensive straight sets victory at 6-3, 6-4, to grab a place in the round of eight at the ATP World Tour 250 event.
The local crowd at the Arenes de Metz witnessed another brilliant display of power hitting from the hot favourite Tsonga, who faced no difficulty in disposing of the French qualifier, Rodrigues, from the competition. Tsonga cracked
in 10 thudding aces converted three of his 12 break opportunities en route to victory on the indoor hard courts of Metz.
“I am very happy to be here and a first match at a tournament is never easy but I feel things went really well today,” said Tsonga in his post match reviews. “Even if I haven’t played indoors in a long time, I feel good and enjoy
playing on it very much right away.”
It was a one-sided contest, with the top seed dominating every second of play. Tsonga dropped just five points on his serve, clinching 30 out of 35 first serve points in the matchup to overcome the bleak French qualifier. Rodrigues
crafted merely one break opportunity in the entire matchup and converted is successfully in the second set but it wasn’t enough to contain the hard-hitting Tsonga in the competition.
The first serve break of the day came from Tsonga’s racquet in the sixth game of the opener, giving him a 5-2 lead in the set. Rodrigues failed to recover from the damage and eventually let Tsonga serve out of the first set at
6-3.
Rodrigues dropped serve in the very first game of the next set and then again in the fifth game to remain in a terrible position in the match at 1-5. He registered his first serve break of the match in the eighth game but couldn’t
prevent Tsonga from clinching victory at 6-4.
Tsonga’s victory over Rodrigues improved his year’s winning record to 38-18, as he marched into the quarter-final rounds to face the other Frenchman, Nicolas Mahut, for a place in the semis. Mahut was successful against Arnaud
Clement of France in the second round, beating him in an exciting three-setter 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, to book a date with Tsonga.
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