Roger Federer overcomes Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the opening clash – ATP World Tour Finals 2011
Sunday night at the O2 Arena in London kicked off with the defending champion, Roger Federer, taking down the world number six, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, in the opening Group B matchup of the Round Robin at the Barclays ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour Finals.
The exciting three-setter took one hour and twenty eight minutes to conclude, with the fourth ranked Swiss maestro standing tall against the Frenchman at 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. Fourth seed Federer improved his winning record to 35-7 at the season ending grand finale, registering his seventh victory in 10 encounters against Tsonga. He took down the Frenchman last Sunday in the final of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris and continued will his winning impetus in Sunday’s clash as well.
Federer is making his 10th consecutive appearance to the circuit ending mega event and his impactful start to the Round Robin depicts his intent to defend his prestigious title in London. He was off to a ballistic start in the opening set, devastating Tsonga skilfully to get the upper hand early in the contest but the Sixth seed French made a strong return in the following set to push Federer on his back foot. The Swiss maestro upped his game in the final set and went on with his momentum to claim a convincing victory over the aggressive French.
“I thought it was a good first set [and] even the second set was fine," said Federer, "But he did well to serve bigger and better as the match went on. With me, it was just trying to stay calm, trying to create chances when he was not serving as well as he did at times. It's really hard to get into any sort of rhythm against him from the baseline because he's a very good 1-2 puncher, which he proved over four and a half sets against me at Wimbledon.”
Federer secured 37 of his 48 first serve points in the matchup, with Tsonga following way behind at 25 to finish on the losing side in the end. He converted three out of five break opportunities in the match and earned three match points at 5-4 in the final set. Federer converted the second match point with a forehand pass down the line to seal victory at 6-4.
Federer will take on his arch rival, world number two, Rafael Nadal of Spain, in his second Round Robin matchup of the ATP World Tour Finals on Tuesday night.
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