Tsonga Serves Up Opening Win At Queen's

Jun192017

2014 champion Dimitrov also advances

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 was difficult. So it’s good to be back and be able to play second round in Queen’s. I took some time off, and I practised a lot. I had the good sense to have a grass court at my house, so I just practised and prepare this grass season, which is a good surface for me. Hopefully I will be able to do something good.”

The 32-year-old Tsonga is making his sixth appearance at this ATP World Tour 500 tournament. He reached the final in 2011, finishing runner-up to Andy Murray. The Frenchman, also a former Wimbledon semi-finalist (2011-12), is looking for his first grass-court title this week.

Sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov also advanced for the loss of just four games, dismissing Ryan Harrison 6-3, 6-1 in 54 minutes. The Bulgarian improved to a 3-1 lead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series as he lost only eight points on serve and broke Harrison four times.

The 26-year-old Dimitrov rebounded strongly from the opening-round exit he suffered last week in Stuttgart (l. to Janowicz). The right-hander won the title at The Queen’s Club in 2014 (d. Lopez), one of six ATP World Tour titles to his name. He is chasing his third title of the season this week, following victories in Brisbane (d. Nishikori) and Sofia (d. Goffin), which bookended a run to the Australian Open semi-finals (l. to Nadal).

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