Tsonga Credits French Crowd In Paris 2016
Tsonga Credits French Crowd In Paris 2016
Nov042016
Berdych to face Simon on Thursday
Local favourite and No. 11 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga trailed fifth seed Kei Nishikori for the majority of their third-round match at the BNP Paribas Masters, but showed remarkable fighting spirit to save two match points and prevail on Thursday in Paris, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).
Next up for the Frenchman is fourth seed Milos Raonic, a three-set winner earlier in the day over No. 16 seed Pablo Cuevas. Their FedEx ATP Head2Head series is tied at 2-2, but the Canadian has won their past two matches.
Nishikori needed just 22 minutes to shut out Tsonga in the opening set, marking the first time the Frenchman lost a set 0-6 since last year’s Masters 1000 event in Shanghai (vs. Nadal). But Tsonga rebounded strongly by grabbing the break of serve in the second set to level the match.
The Japanese star broke Tsonga at 4-3 and held two match points on his serve in the next game, but the Frenchman erased them with gutsy tennis and eventually forced a final-set tie-break. Tsonga went on a four-point run to lead 4/1 and closed out the contest with his second match point in exactly two hours.
Fittingly, Tsonga also prevailed after receiving his last 0-6 set against Nadal in Shanghai.
The Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London came to an end on Thursday as the last of eight spots available at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals was claimed by Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi. Huey/Mirnyi lost in the first round of the BNP Paribas Masters earlier this week, but secured their first team qualification when defending London champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau fell in the second round of Paris.
Joining Mirnyi/Huey at the O2 on 13 November will be Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, who reclaimed the No. 1 spot from London qualifiers Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Martin Klizan and Joao Sousa in the second round in Paris.
Also present at the year-end showdown will be four-time champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, Roland Garros doubles champions Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, 2014 finalists Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, and Henri Kontinen and John Peers. Five of the eight teams are first-time qualifiers.
Rojer/Tecau, who won the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals last year, saw their season come to a close after falling to Nicholas Monroe and Jack Sock 2-6, 6-3, 10-7. Melo, who is playing with Vasek Pospisil in Paris, moved into the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber and Dominic Thiem.
World No. 1 prevails from a set down on Thursday in Paris
Top seed and three-time defending champion BNP Paribas Masters champion Novak Djokovic fought through injury and a tricky opponent on Thursday in Paris, overcoming a mid-match scare to rally from a set down and defeat No. 14 seed Grigor Dimitrov in their third-round clash, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Djokovic extends his win streak in Bercy to 17 consecutive matches. He will maintain his World No. 1 ranking over Andy Murray should he win two more matches and reach the final in Paris.
Both players traded early service holds, but Dimitrov broke Djokovic twice in a row to lead 3-2 and maintained his slight advantage to grab the opening set. Djokovic rebounded by racing to a 3-1 lead, but suffered a right knee injury after slipping while chasing down a forehand. He stopped play to take a medical timeout, but quickly picked where he left off and broke Dimitrov once more to force a deciding set.
The third set was one-way traffic for Djokovic. He immediately broke Dimitrov and race out to a 3-0 lead, controlling the majority of the baseline rallies and putting his opponent under constant pressure. The World No. 1 closed out the match on his first try to move into the quarter-finals.
Next up for Djokovic is ninth seed Marin Cilic, who clinched his spot in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals earlier in the day with a win over ninth seed David Goffin. The Serbian has dominated his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against Cilic 14-0 and has won the past 12 sets they’ve played.
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic continue to battle over the world number one ranking after both won in the third round of the Paris Masters.
Murray can overtake the 12-time Grand Slam champion if Djokovic fails to reach the final.
The Scot reached the last eight by winning a low-quality match with Lucas Pouille in straight sets, 6-3 6-0.
Serb Djokvoic came from a set down against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov before winning 4-6 6-2 6-3.
Djokovic will meet Canadian fourth seed Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals, while Murray awaits the winner of the tie between Tomas Berdych and Gilles Simon.
To become world number one for the first time, Murray must win the title if Djokovic fails to reach the final, although if the Serb should lose before the semis then Murray would only need to make the final.
Murray needed two hours and 29 minutes to get past Fernando Verdasco in the second round on Tuesday and at times looked fatigued against Pouille.
Still, the Frenchman put up little resistance, with Murray winning eight successive games after the world number 17 had broken the Briton’s serve midway through the first set.
Even with Murray below his best, Pouille’s regular errors ensured this was no great spectacle, with the second set little more than a procession.
The victory is Murray’s 71st in 2016, equalling his previous best calendar year of 2015.
A more straightforward route to the number one spot for Murray appeared possible when Dimitrov took the opening set against a low-key Djokovic, but the four-time champion fought back impressively.
Despite needing a medical time-out after twisting his knee in the second set, Djokovic dominated the closing stages to win in two hours and 24 minutes.
Croatia’s Marin Cilic won a tense encounter with Belgian David Goffin to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals, which get under way in London on 14 November.
Cilic, 28, needed six match points before finally seeing off Goffin 6-3 7-6 (11-9) to reach the last eight in Paris.
The 2014 US Open champion joins Djokovic, Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Raonic, Kei Nishikori and Gael Monfils in the line-up for London.
Dominic Thiem, Berdych or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will complete the field at the O2 Arena.
“It’s definitely something special, so it’s great for me that I achieved it, especially in this kind of way in these last few weeks,” said Cilic.
“I earned it, and that’s, for me, an even bigger plus.”