Jo-Wilfried Tsonga edges past Xavier Malisse to reach round three – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
French number one, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, tumbled over the Belgian star, Xavier Malisse, in straight sets at the Sony Ericsson Open 2012 on Friday night. He formulated a 7-5, 7-5 score line against the Belgian to advance into the third round at this Masters
1000 event taking place at Key Biscayne in Miami, united States.
The sixth seed showed his class to overpower Malisse in one hour and 36 minutes. Facing each other for the third time, Tsonga not only improved to a 2-1 FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head 2 Head record against the 31-year-old but also secured
a place in the round of 32.
Tsonga made a shaky entry at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park and lost his opening serve to fall at 0-3. However, he recovered in the seventh game and capitalised on another break chance in the second last game to pull out the opener with a 7-5 win. The
French smacked seven aces and produced a better first serve share. Tsonga also warded off three out of four breakpoints he faced and amazingly marked 18 out of 23 points on his first serve share.
Ranked 6th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Tsonga kept momentum sailing into the following set and got the coveted break in the third game to subsequently take a 3-1 lead. Regardless of losing his serve in the eighth game,
he cashed in his second break opportunity in the eleventh game to seal the set by winning seven games to five. The French clobbered a poor first serve share of 41 per cent but amazingly clinched 11 out of 13 points on it.
Tsonga will next confront the 32nd seed, Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, who trounced Frederico Gil of Portugal in straight sets to set-up this meeting. He fired five aces, blocked the only breakpoint he encountered and capitalised on all three
break opportunities to manipulate a 6-2, 7-5 success in one hour and 11 minutes. The German also produced a better first serve share of 65 per cent as compared to Gil’s 51 per cent and amazingly marked 31 out of 35 points on it.
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