Masters Cup - Tsonga exits Shanghai with win

Eurosport - Fri, 14 Nov 09:02:00 2008

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat world number three Novak Djokovic 1-6 7-5 6-1 to leave the Masters Cup in Shanghai with a consolation victory.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Masters Cup, Shanghai - 0

Qualification for the semi-finals of the tournament was already impossible for Tsonga, who lost his opening two matches to Nikolay Davydenko and Juan Martin Del Potro.

But the loss also did nothing to dent Djokovic's progress to the last four, as the Serb had already secured top spot in the Gold Group with two early wins under his belt.

Djokovic, returning to the kind of form that won him the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, came racing out of the blocks, holding for the loss of just one point in the opening game before snatching an early break.

A wayward forehand from Tsonga that landed well beyond the baseline gifted Djokovic his first break point and the Serb took advantage of it, after a lengthy rally, with a dipping backhand that got caught in the feet of the fast-approaching Tsonga.

Djokovic then held to cement the break before allowing his French opponent to get on the scoreboard with a love service game.

But it was back to business for the Serb in the very next game as a double fault from Tsonga allowed Djokovic to set up his second break opportunity. Tsonga managed to save the first with a huge first serve but he could do nothing about the second as Djokovic's consistency in hitting the lines proved crucial.

The world number three then clinched the set with another dominant service game that concluded with a forehand winner.

Tsonga enjoyed better fortune at the beginning of the second set though and almost set up break points in the fourth game when he came up with a stunning forehand passing shot on the run, from over a metre behind the baseline.

But Djokovic quickly slammed the door shut and then set up break points against the Frenchman in the next game when he came out on top of an exchange that saw both players going for increasingly acute angles on backhand volleys.

Tsonga escaped with some impressive serving but was again forced to produce his best tennis in his next service game as Djokovic looked for the second set breakthrough - winning the first two points against serve for the second time in a row.

Tsonga held firm though before forcing Djokovic to serve to stay in the set. The Serb did so with ease in the 10th game but produced some sloppy play in the 12th to hand Tsonga the equalising set.

A backhand winner from Tsonga, followed by a forehand error from Djokovic, allowed the Frenchman a first look at the break. Djokovic quickly levelled up at 30-30 with a service winner and a backhand drop shot but consecutive errors from the Serb on the forehand side gave Tsonga the set.

The final set was one-way traffic as Tsonga broke in the second game, when Djokovic hit a woeful forehand into the net, and again in the sixth game with a cross court passing shot.

Tsonga then served out the win at the first attempt to end his season on a winning note, despite exiting the tournament at the group stage.

Follow LIVE text commentary and scoring of the Masters Cup from Shanghai all week with eurosport.yahoo.com - on Friday afternoon Andy Murray takes on Roger Federer!!

Pippa Davis / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 18 of 18

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  1. nolilasoy As I remember, you said that Novak can not beat anyone form top ten, few days ago. And what happened after that ? So if you want to continue making full of yourself, please do !
    :-)

    From Igor K, on Fri 14 Nov 9:35AM

  2. HOLD MY HAND!

    From Pahayman, on Thu 13 Nov 8:25PM

  3. hahaha it only shows of a kind of player djokovic against a better player....no match at all against mr. ali hehehe Novak had only PURE luck not up against tsonga on his day 1 and day 3 match or else 100percent he will not qualify.....hahaha only PURE luck....anyway Novak Djokovic was never a better player in compare to FEDERER and Nadal...he is a long long long way back....i dont know if he understand the meaning of TENNIS...why not play golf or tennis Novak bwahahaha.

    From nolilasoy, on Thu 13 Nov 8:25PM

  4. I have no problem with any player throwing away meaningless set or a match. Maybe the bookies do, if that's so just take him of the lists. And to be perfectly clear, they don't play for audience or the money, those are all just side effects, they play because they love the game and that is the case with every sport. They play for them selves and for the love and passion of the game. You can watch or you don't have to. It's your choice.

    From zastomito, on Thu 13 Nov 7:55PM

  5. GO NOLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    From boki, on Thu 13 Nov 6:47PM

  6. There is nothing wrong to save energy for the next mach ed251137. Have you seen the match? Do you remember when tsonga had a break point in a first set and djokovic served an ace on the line on his second service? Thats whats great when result doesn't meter. We can sit and enjoy wonderfol points. Boath players are great. I don't like when you talk abot djokovic on that way. He is the top 3 player because he is really good! I tacka!!!! :D Nadal also saves energy that's why he has troubles with some players. He doesn't wont to give his max performance because he needs that for the next mach. The thing is, you simply don't like djokovic. GO NOLE!!!!! :D

    From Predrag, on Thu 13 Nov 5:49PM

  7. Tsonga deserves credit for fighting back and taking the 2nd set. Djokovic deserves nothing but contempt for throwing the 3rd set.

    In doing so he showed lack of respect for his fellow player and to the fans who pay money to see a hard fought match.

    You never see Nadal conserving energy for the next match. He gives his all in every game. Federer conserves his energies for the big, important points. But neither of them would stoop to the low behaviour displayed by the so-called Joker.

    We shall never know if Tsonga could have beaten Novak fair and square but he deserves praise for the way he has acquitted himself in this tournament.

    From EdwinaM, on Thu 13 Nov 5:25PM

  8. Great players win every match...they dont make calculations! This proves again that Novak needs to grow up still and become more mature in order to be a great player and deserve TOP 3. For those who claim that he didnt want to prove...or he wanted to save energy...i remind them about the price of loosing the game - 100.000$...
    Tsonga should enjoy this money and be praoud of his performance this year

    From durim, on Thu 13 Nov 4:36PM

  9. Good going, Jo. Better luck next time. After all, Djokovic didn' t win a single match last year, either, when he came here for the first time and look at him now, in the same finals and, hopefully, the champion.

    From Jimmy, on Thu 13 Nov 3:58PM

  10. Come on tennis fans.
    Win here and lost there. that is game.
    At Master, every match counts: Round Robin win: 100K per match.

    From ScottH, on Thu 13 Nov 3:14PM

  11. nope becose Novak wouldn`t lost this if this was really important. Not on this tournament !

    From Igor K, on Thu 13 Nov 2:51PM

  12. this proves that tsonga is better than djokovic..

    From toriq, on Thu 13 Nov 2:40PM

  13. Which one is currently better Novak showed in First, and in second set. But one or two crucial balls decided winner of this match at the end of the second.
    Novak didn’t want to loose energy in third, because one set he won in this match was enough to secure first place in a group.
    But playing that way in third ?! I’m not sure it will prove good for him ! From my point of view, it is not correct to the audience, not to opponent !
    Will see, I hope he calculated good !

    From Igor K, on Thu 13 Nov 2:30PM

  14. novak is already in the semifinals...he didn;t have to prove anything...

    From monitza s, on Thu 13 Nov 2:23PM

  15. yes he is better than novak; coz' of that it is novak who progress :P:P:P

    From aa, on Thu 13 Nov 1:46PM

  16. not printable,
    it's not waste of time.
    tsonga proved that he is better than djokovic...

    From jimi, on Thu 13 Nov 1:27PM

  17. great tsonga you just gotta be consistent...thats 3-1 to you..you better than djokovic so you did prove something..."not printable" is talking nonsense....what can she or he do anyway...later

    From marz, on Thu 13 Nov 1:08PM

  18. waste of time and proved nothing to anyone

    From not printable, on Thu 13 Nov 12:38PM
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