Radek Stepanek stuns Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round – AEGON International 2011
57th ranked Czech competitor, Radek Stepanek delivered a surprise blow to the world number 19, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the second round clash of the AEGON International on Wednesday.
Played at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club in Eastbourne, United Kingdom, the unseeded Stepanek took down his French opponent in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, to book a quarter-final berth in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
World Tour 250 event.
The contest appeared one-sided all the way, with Stepanek dominating the tall Frenchman in both sets to register his 14th victory of the running year. The Czech had no difficulty in disposing off Tsonga in the opening
set of the match and carried on his momentum to seal the game in the second set to move into the final eight of the tournament.
26-year-old Tsonga had defeated the Czech on two prior occasions but failed to put up the similar performance this time round. Stepanek finally broke the dry run against Tsonga on Wednesday and improved his head-to-head series
against the French by 1-2.
Tsonga has been in brilliant form this season so far and finished as the runner-up only last week at Queen’s Club against world number four, Andy Murray. His Wimbledon preparations finally ended at the hands of the Czech, who completely
outplayed him in every segment of the game. Stepanek stung four serve breaks in the game while faced not a single break point from the French in the entire contest.
“I’ve played a lot of matches,” said Tsonga after suffering his 12th defeat of the running ATP season, “That was my goal for this preparation. Today I’m just tired, but I’m sure I will recover enough to play Wimbledon
and to be ready.”
A sloppy start from Tsonga put him on the back foot right from the beginning, as the 32-year-old Czech veteran displayed his aggressive tennis approach to get the early advantage. Stepanek served brilliantly with 74 percent precision
and bagged 14 out of 17 first serve points to get the upper hand in the opening set. Two serve breaks took the Czech to 5-2 and he served out of the first set with ease to go one up in the contest.
Stepanek carried on his winning momentum in the following set as well, striking further two serve breaks to seal the contest at 6-3, advancing to the quarter-final of the AEGON International. He will take on either Kei Nishikori
of Japan or the German qualifier, Rainer Schuttler in the next round matchup.
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