Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overpowers injured Jarkko Nieminen to reach the quarters – Erste Bank Open 2011
Top seeded French Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was leading the decider by 3-1 when Finn Jarkko Nieminen was forced to retire due to a right hip injury at the Erste Bank Open 2011, an ATP World Tour 250 series event taking place at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna,
Austria. He registered a 3-6, 6-1, 3-1 retirement victory over the 30-year-old Finn to secure a final eight spot on Thursday.
World number nine Tsonga outclassed the Finn, ranked fifty-three places below him, in almost an hour. Tsonga not only avenged his loss at Tokyo last year but also took lead in the head-to-head series by 3-2 against Nieminen.
The Masku native, Nieminen thundered into the Austrian courts and got the first blood in the second game after cashing in the only breakpoint opportunity to his advantage. He then plucked in entire serves without facing any hurdle to clinch the opening set
with a 6-3 score line.
The Swiss resident, Tsonga turned the tables around in the second set as he unleashed his true colours to strike out first three games consecutively. After Nieminen put his nose on the score sheet in the fourth game, the Frenchman re-kindled his magic to
swipe in the last three games and handed a breadstick. He faced zero breakpoint and capitalised on two out of three breakpoint chances to his advantage.
After Nieminen held his serve in the opening game, Tsonga hammered exquisite forehands to reel off next three games in a row.
However, Nieminen felt severe pain on his right hip and was forced to retire.
The Frenchman faced zero breakpoint and capitalised on the only breakpoint opportunity to his advantage to have an edge in the decider.
"It was difficult at the beginning, the first set was tough for me," Tsonga said. "Jarkko played well, but during the match I played better and better... It's good for me because I have the chance to go through and play another round and get some points
for the [Barclays ATP World Tour Finals]."
Up next for the highest ranked player of the tournament, Tsonga is the Belgian Xavier Malisse.
"It's going to be difficult," said Tsonga of playing Malisse. "I lost to him at the beginning of the year, but I will try to take revenge."
The Belgian stunned eighth seeded Italian Fabio Fognini with a 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3 comeback victory. He took two hours to overwhelm the seed’s resilience on their first meeting.
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