Jo-Wilfried Tsonga edges past Stanislas Wawrinka in round four – French Open 2012
World number five, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, edged past the 21st ranked Swiss, Stanislas Wawrinka, in the fourth round of the Roland Garros French Open on Monday. The match was played in two days because the rain interrupted
the encounter on Sunday. Tsonga won the match in an epic fashion; 6-4, 7-6(6), 3-6, 3-6, 6-4.
Everyone in the arena was waiting for the play to resume at 4-2 in the fifth set on Monday with the local hero leading the show. However, the visitor broke serve and held his own to level the scores at 4-4. It looked like this
match will prolong further but the French tennis ace took away the winning breakthrough in the 10th game of the fifth set; trashing the Swiss after a marathon encounter.
On Sunday, both players started off aggressively but the French fifth seed managed to sneak the first set with the help of a timely breakthrough in the final game. He was tested to limits in the following sets; both players exchanged
breakthroughs once that kept the scores together and enforced a tie-breaker. Tsonga inched ahead in the battle but with nothing at all to spare.
Wawrinka turned the tables on the local hero in the following two sets. He grabbed a double breakthrough in the start of the third set and kept his lead intact until the end. The Swiss professional repeated the similar performance
in the fourth set as well; breaking serve on two different occasions and powering down the French number one; more importantly levelled the set scores at 2-2.
The Swiss had already played an epic three-setter in the previous round as well so it was becoming a routine for him to play lengthy matches. The French professional took an early lead in the fifth set and was cruising at 4-2 when
the rain stopped the match.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will take on the reigning world number one, Novak Djokovic, of Serbia in the quarter-final battle of the tournament. It is expected to be a tight match but considering the form of the Serb, Tsonga will have to
dig deep and stay focused all the way to win the battle.
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