In an all-French first-round contest, fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made a strong start to his Aegon Championships campaign as he defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 6-2 on a hot day at The Queen’s Club in London. Tsonga, who this week returned to the Top 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, was largely untroubled in his first grass-court outing of the season. The right-hander advanced in 66 minutes, converting five of his 13 break points to avenge the defeat he suffered to Mannarino a few weeks ago on the clay in Monte-Carlo. "For me it was really important to have a victory," said Tsonga, who suffered the disappointment of a first-round loss at Roland Garros in his last tournament. "On clay it...
Australian No. 18 seed Nick Kyrgios fired into the Roland Garros second round on Tuesday by firing down 20 aces in a 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 victory over the experienced Philipp Kohlschreiber, who remains two match wins shy of 150 career clay-court victories. The 22-year-old Kyrgios, who is now 19-6 on the year, has advanced to three ATP World Tour semi-finals at Marseille (l. to Tsonga), Acapulco (l. to Querrey) and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l. to Federer). “There was a lot of question marks on how I would perform today,” admitted Kyrgios. “I haven't had that many matches on the clay. Obviously, [I’ve] been struggling physically… and not feeling that confident. I saw the draw and I thought...
Fatherhood appears to suit Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. More than two months on since the birth of his son, Shugar (18 March), the Frenchman has captured his third ATP World Tour crown of the year, the most since 2009 (3). The 32-year-old Tsonga rose two spots today to No. 11 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after beating Tomas Berdych in the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon final. His victory, marking his first clay-court crown, added to title runs in February at the Open 13 in Marseille and the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. Tsonga, who was last in the Top 10 in the week of 17 April, first placed among the elite competitors on 3 November 2008. The former World No....
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga celebrated a hat trick of ATP World Tour titles this season on Saturday, prevailing past Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6(2), 7-5 in the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon final. The title is Tsonga's first clay-court crown and his 15th overall title. The Frenchman improved to 3-0 in title matches this season, having also won back-to-back indoor crowns at Rotterdam and Marseille in February. “I am very happy. First title on clay court. It is now added to my CV and I can move on. I am going to enjoy this title today and tomorrow. It has been a great week overall,” Tsonga said. Never before has Tsonga won more than three titles in a season, although he looks poised to...