Tsonga defeats spirited Kendrick at Wimbledon
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has seen off a spirited challenge by Robert Kendrick to win his opening match at Wimbledon 7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4.
While service breaks proved impossible to come by in the opening two sets on No. 1 court, as both went to tiebreaks that were decided in the Frenchman’s favour, it was Kendrick who secured the first break of the match in the third set and that was enough for the American to force the match into a fourth set.
It was the 10th seed, however, who converted the sole break point opportunity available to either player in the fourth set and with the first two sets already under his belt, move through to the second round in just over two-and-a-half hours.
Tsonga wasn’t the only seed who was pushed in his opening match on day two, with Mikhail Youzhny taking four sets to get past Dudi Sela out on court eight. Sela, who defeated Andy Roddick at the Aegon Championships at the Queen’s Club earlier in June, lost the first two sets to the Russian before bouncing back to win the third.
The 13th seed, however, saw off the challenge from the Israeli to win the match 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(2).
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