Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the No. 12 seed, passed a stern test from No. 23 seed Jack Sock on Friday with flying colours, moving into the fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne with a 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-6(8), 6-3 win.
Neither player faced a break point in the opening set, but Tsonga jumped out to a 4/1 lead in the tie-break and grabbed the early advantage on his first set point chance. Both players traded service holds throughout the second set, but the Frenchman finally earned the first break of the match to lead 6-5. He comfortably held to love in the next game to take a commanding two-sets lead.
Very little separated Sock and Tsonga in the third set, ultimately forcing another tie-break. In an epic battle, Sock saved match points down 5/6 and 7/8 before converting on his second set point after Tsonga missed a forehand smash.
But while some players may have gotten rattled, Tsonga refocused by breaking Sock early in the fourth set and racing to a 3-0 lead. He maintained his slight advantage the rest of the way and eventually closed out the contest on his first try in three hours and 33 minutes. The 2008 Australian Open runner-up improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Sock to 3-0.
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Tsonga will meet World No. 51 Daniel Evans for the first time on Sunday for a place in his first quarter-final at Melbourne Park since 2013.
In-form Evans, who knocked out Marin Cilic in the second round, silenced Australian supporters by hitting 58 winners to beat No. 27 seed Bernard Tomic 7-5, 7-6(2), 7-6(3) for a place in the fourth round of a major championship for the first time.
“It was a goal to make the fourth round of a Slam this year,” admitted Evans. “It's satisfying. But I'm not looking back yet. We've got another match on Sunday, I think it is. We'll see what happens then. After the tournament, I will look back.”
Last week, the British No. 3 (behind Andy Murray, Kyle Edmund) reached his first ATP World Tour final at the Apia International Sydney (l. to Gilles Muller).