Jo-Wilfried Tsonga outplays Bernard Tomic in the second round – Rogers Cup 2011
French Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, seeded thirteenth at the event, prevailed over world number 68 Bernard Tomic of Australia in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(1) in the second round at the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Wednesday. The match lasted
for an hour and seventeen minutes.
Tsonga and the Australian could not break each other in the first five games of the opening set, taking the score to 3-2 in the former’s favour. The Frenchman made the breakthrough in the sixth game and held his serve in the next
game to grab a 5-2 lead. Tsonga served out the set at 5-3.
The French delivered five aces, grabbing ten of the twelve first service points and the same number of second service points in the first set. Tomic could not come even close to his opponent’s service performance as he failed to
hit any ace, converting just twelve of the eighteen first serves and four of the ten second serves into points in the opening set. The Australian was unable to return well as he won a meagre two of the twelve first return points compared to six out of eighteen
by his opponent.
In the second set, the French and Tomic held their serve in the first four games and equalised the score at 2-2. Tsonga broke the Australian in the fifth game, consolidating on it to take a 4-2 lead. The Frenchman failed to serve
out the match at 5-4, levelling the score at 5-5. Tsonga and Tomic won their next two service games to take the set to a tie-break. The French crushed Tomic in the tie-break, dropping just one point to win it 7-1.
Tsonga bulldozed the Australian with his huge serves, firing an incredible ten aces and bagging an amazing twenty of the 21 first service points. The Frenchman, however, also committed four double faults in the second set. Tsonga
utilised one of the two break points he received and saved the same number of break points in the second set.
Tsonga will take on world number 3, Swiss Maestro Roger Federer in the round of 16.
Talking about his match against Federer, the French said, “This makes you come down to earth again and you have to face reality suddenly. Even if I beat him in Wimbledon, that doesn't mean I will be able to beat him all the time. He's
still the best player of all time. I have my chances, but it's going to be difficult, of course.”
Tsonga defeated the sixteen-time grand slam champion in their last meeting in the quarterfinals at the Wimbledon Championships.
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