Juan Martin Del Potro stuns Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarters – Dubai Tennis Championships 2012
A stunning outcome was witnessed in the quarter-final draw of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, as the 10th ranked Argentine, Juan Martin Del Potro, outshined the world number five, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in straight
sets, 7-6(1), 6-2, on Thursday. The eight seed Del Potro took one hour and 32 minutes to wrap up his emphatic victory in style, earning a berth in the semi-final round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 event.
Del Potro repeated the results of the semi-final clash in Marseille last month, beating Tsonga for the second time in two weeks’ time. His Thursday’s victory extended his all-time head-to-head by 5-1 against France’s number one,
Tsonga, and awarding him a place in the semi-finals of the star-studded event.
"I'm feeling really glad to be in the semi-finals in this tournament with big names: Djokovic, Murray and Federer," said Del Potro. "So it's an amazing season at the moment for me."
The fourth seed Tsonga was the hot favourite in the contest against the inferior-ranked Argentine but his magic couldn’t work this time. Although the French belted 11 aces and clinched 29 out of 38 first serve points, he utterly
failed to register a single serve break in the entire matchup to finish on the losing side in the end. Del Potro’s two break point conversions in the second set proved lethal for Tsonga and he ended his voyage in Dubai in a dismal manner.
Del Potro will face off against the Swiss Maestro, Roger Federer, in the semi-final battle on Friday afternoon.
"All the matches are different, all tournaments are different, [so] I'm trying to find a way to beat again him," Del Potro said. "His game is really difficult for me. He plays slices, dropshots, and he's one of the best in history.
So I just want to be ready for fight and to see how I'm going to play against him."
It was Del Potro’s 16th victory of the current season and a much needed one as well. He won a championship title earlier this year but lost to Roger Federer in the final at Rotterdam a week ago to fritter away a title
opportunity. The former US Open champion is labouring extremely hard to make his place among the Top-5 after making a comeback from a long injury lay-off and his impactful run at the Dubai Tennis Championships shows his intensity. However, it will take some
effort from the fourth seed to take down the mighty Swiss to earn a title shot in the final of the tournament.
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