Martin Klizan stuns Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round – US Open 2012
World number 52, Martin Klizan of Slovakia, grabbed biggest victory of his career by beating the fifth seeded French player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the second round of the US Open.
Klizan needed two hours and 12 minutes to complete the upset win in four sets 6-4, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 and move to the last 32.
The Slovakian played a solid game throughout the contest, hitting blistering forehands to dismantle his top ranked opponent. The left-hander hit winners from all around the court, keeping the total to 32 and upsetting one of the
favourites at the event.
Klizan had his intentions clear from the start of the match that he would keeping attacking his opponent’s serve, breaking Tsonga in the very first game and consolidating on it to attain a 2-0 lead. Although, the Frenchman bounced
back immediately to even it out at 2-2 but Klizan struck again in the seventh one and made the most of it this time to win 6-4.
Tsonga got hold of the situation in the second set, as he captured opening five games to gain a 5-0 advantage. Klizan managed to break the bagel by holding his serve in the sixth but lost the next one to go down 1-6.
At the end of second set, it looked like it would be Tsonga show during rest of the contest but Klizan surprised everyone by his top quality performance, as he responded in the same manner, outclassing Tsonga 6-1 to take two sets
to one lead.
The Slovakian was in no mood to stop the thrashing of the world number six, winning opening four games of the fourth set to race to a 4-0 lead. Tsonga came near to his rival by winning three in a row and reducing the trail to 3-4
but he dropped the subsequent two, losing it 3-6.
Klizan was extremely happy with his performance, as he said, "I was coming to the match to play a very solid game. I wanted to play really good tennis to play with the top star player. I played very, very well today. I was concentrating
each point and I won; I'm very happy that I did."
On the other hand, a disappointed looking Tsonga stated, "Today I was not in good shape. I didn't play good tennis. It seemed like I couldn't hit the ball enough hard to put my opponent out of position. I don't really know why
it was like this today, but sometimes it's happen with me."
Klizan will now take on the 32nd seed, Jeremy Chardy of France, in the third round.
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