Jo-Wilfried Tsonga eases past Juan Carlos Ferrero into semi-final – China Open 2011
Reigning world number seven, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, faced limit difficulties in dumping the former world number one, Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, in the quarter-final matchup of the China Open on Friday afternoon.
The contest was played on the outdoor hard courts of the Olympic Green Tennis Center, in Beijing, China, with the top seeded Frenchman winning the matchup in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, taking one hour and eleven minutes of play.
Tsonga displayed his tremendous power hitting and sublime form once again to sweep away the unseeded Spaniard from the competition. Ferrero proved to be a total mismatch for the top seeded French and succumbed in the two sets to
let Tsonga through to the semi-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 event.
France’s number one registered his 44th victory of the running ATP season and the third one in total against Ferrero. He avenged his defeat from the Spaniard, who outplayed him in the last year’s edition of Monte Carlo
Masters, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5, to reach the quarter-finals. Tsonga’s belligerence proved too good to contain in the contest and the top seed extended his all-time head-to-head lead by 3-1 against Ferrero in singles matches.
“I’m surprised to have played like this,” said world number seven, Tsonga, who is spending his 76th week in the top-10. “That was just amazing. Everything was working. I’m just very happy to go through this round, because
it’s never easy to play against this guy. Tomorrow will be exciting for sure. It’s going to be another match [against Berdych]. We have a lot to win tomorrow, you know. Both of us have to win tomorrow for the [Barclays ATP World Tour Finals]. I think it's
going to be a good match.”
The top seeded Frenchman cracked 10 thudding aces in the entire matchup, with his opponent replying with none at all. Tsonga amazingly dropped merely four points on his serve, clinching 32 out of 36 first serve points in the game
to come out as the winner. He nailed two serve breaks en route to victory while the Spaniard utterly failed to register a single break point in the whole matchup.
Tsonga will take on the world number 10, Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic, in the next encounter to earn a title shot in the final of the China Open. Berdych won his quarter-final clash against the unseeded Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco,
in straight sets 6-1, 6-0, to force his way to the round of four in Beijing.
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