Novak Djokovic will face off Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final showdown – China Open 2012
Top seed Novak Djokovic will square off against the French number one, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the final round of China Open 2012, an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 Series event held in Beijing, China. The Serbian star crushed Germany’s Florian Mayer with a breadstick to progress. Tsonga on the other hand also pulled out a breadstick before his opponent, Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, retired with a wrist injury.
Both stars will face off each other for the 13th time with Djokovic leading 7-5 in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head Series against the French ace. The Serbian number one has conquered Tsonga on all three previous meetings this season with his latest coming at the London Olympics.
Djokovic, who is playing his first tournament after making a final appearance at the US Open (lost to Andy Murray), reflected about the final showdown against Tsonga:
“He’s been playing really well. There's no secrets between each other, between us. I mean, we [have] played many times, played a lot of important matches on the big stage. He's a very powerful player, big serve, big forehand, and if that works, he can win against anybody on any surface, to be honest. So there is no clear favourite, I think, in tomorrow's match. We have both been winning quite comfortably. It's going to be a good final hopefully for the tournament.”
The 25-year-old is in awesome run of form as he won the Australian Open, first of the four Grand Slam event, in the start of the season. In addition to this, Djokovic triumphed at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami (trounces Andy Murray) and the Rogers Cup in Toronto (downed Richard Gasquet). His all three titles came on hard courts.
In his last match against Mayer, the jubilant Serb blocked both breakpoints he faced to keep his entire serves. He cashed in all three break chances to formulate a 6-1, 6-4 victory.
Seeded third in this event, Tsonga thundered into the National Tennis Center for his match against Spain’s Feliciano Lopez. He dominated throughout the battle and eventually registered a 6-1, 4-1 retirement victory against Lopez. The Spaniard was forced to withdraw from the event with a left wrist injury.
“I played really well,” Tsonga commented. “I'm sure I will play good tennis in final.”
Ranked seventh in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Tsonga improved to a 5-0 lifetime in the head-to-head series against the world number 30 and moved a step closer towards his third year-to-date title. The French star lifted crystalware at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open (defeated Gael Monfils) and at the Moselle Open in Metz (overpowered Andreas Seppi).
Both tennis stars lost a single set in their opening round matches at this outdoor hard court event. However, looking at the world number two’s current run of form on hard courts, Djokovic is expected to record a 6-4, 6-3 victory against the French veteran.
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