Novak Djokovic vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga – Semi-final Preview: Rogers Cup 2011
After producing a couple of surprises earlier in the tournament, 13th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is ready to take on the world number one, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, in the semi-final clash of Rogers Cup on Saturday afternoon.
The highly anticipated contest will be staged on the hard courts of the Uniprix Stadium in Montreal, Canada, with the winner of the match getting a title shot at the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series tournament.
Playing his first tournament as the world number one, Djokovic is currently running his best ever form, having a 51-1 record in the running ATP season. The Serb has already bagged eighth championship titles this year so far, including two Grand Slam tournaments. Top seeded at Rogers Cup, Djokovic came to Montreal as the hot favourite for winning the title and his performances so far in the tournament have been magnificent.
The belligerent Serb took off his Montreal Masters campaign by defeating the former world number three, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, in straight sets and then disposed of Croatia’s number one, Marin Cilic, in the next round. Djokovic continued with his aggressive run in the quarter-finals as well and absolutely devastated the world number seven, Gael Monfils of France in straight sets 6-2, 6-1, to reach his 10th semi-final of the running year. The top seed is yet to lose a set in the tournament and had won all of his matches in straight sets, destroying every competitor he faced in his way to the semi-finals.
On the other hand, 16th ranked Tsonga has also been in a ballistic form in the past few days and has defeated to top-10 players en route to semi-finals. He dispensed out Fabio Fognini and Bernard Tomic in the initial round of Montreal Masters before getting a rematch of this year’s Wimbledon Championships against the Swiss maestro, Roger Federer, in the third round. Tsonga stunned all the tennis fans all over the world with his majestic performance to outplay the world number three to reach the round of eight. With a sky high confidence after defeating Federer, the French then took on world number 10, Nicolas Almagro of Spain in the quarter-finals and completely blew him away in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, to book a date with Djokovic in the semis.
Tsonga leads the head-to-head record against Djokovic by 5-3 but his last matchup against the Serb resulted in a defeat for the French. With the blistering form Djokovic is currently having, he certainly is the hot favourite for the Saturday’s contest but Tsonga can always come up with a surprise.
“The last match was very close, very intense, very important for both of us,” Djokovic told of the last encounter he had with Tsonga at Wimbledon semi-final a month ago. “He's been playing better in last couple of months. I think he increased his level. He's an all around player. He can play pretty well on all surfaces. He has a big serve. If he serves well, he can beat anybody. He showed that in previous couple of tournaments. So it's going to be tough one. It's a fast surface. I need to return well and hope that I can get some chances.”
No matter which of the two top class players win the contest on Saturday, the matchup will surely be a treat to watch for the tennis fans all over the globe.
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