Tsonga Powers To Win On Stuttgart Debut
Tsonga Powers To Win On Stuttgart Debut
Shapovalov starts his grass campaign later today
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga got off to a winning start on his MercedesCup debut on Monday, powering past 2017 semi-finalist Mischa Zverev 6-3, 6-0 in 57 minutes. Tsonga, who won nine straight games from 3-3 in the first set, lost just four of his first-service points and hit 13 aces.
“It’s never easy to play your first match on grass, especially against Mischa, who is a good server,” said Tsonga, who was playing his first match on grass for two years. “With the year I’ve had last year, I just want to play and do my best during the grass swing. There is no special goal.”
Tsonga is now 18-9 on the season, which includes his 17th ATP Tour title at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier (d. Herbert). He awaits the winner of sixth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic, the 2018 runner-up, and Alexei Popyrin, an Australian qualifier.
Elsewhere, 19-year-old Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic edged past 2013 and 2016 finalist Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 57 minutes. Kohlschreiber finished as runner-up to Fabio Fognini, when the event was played on clay in 2013, and to Dominic Thiem in 2016 on grass. Kercmanovic now plays sixth-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov or another German, Jan-Lennard Struff, who play later today.
