Tsonga struggles through

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Tsonga struggles through

First seed Jo Wilfried Tsonga fought back to win the all French quarter final against Nicolas Mahut in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 and secure a semi final berth. Next up for the main favorite is third seed Alexandr Dolgopolov who has also flown in the best four term.

Mahut both converted one out of two break points in the opener and kept his service sheet clean throughout the entire term, setting the first lead in over half an hour. But the second set saw this year’s Queens finalist and France’s number one set a much better pace, leaving his opponent three games adrift after converting a break point amid the round.

Finally, the third set showed the two players going head to head until the 11^th game. A late effort helped Tsogna snatch a late break to close the meeting before Mahut would have threatened with a tie break. Jo Wilfried, who has reached plenty of superior phases this year, is now two wins from his first title.

The French fired 20 aces past his conational whom he only broke twice, needing nearly three hours to seal the victory. He also won 64 percent of first serve points, 76 of service ones and committed three double faults.

On the other side, Mahut came up with a 64 first serve percentage, a poor 24 return one and a 64 service percentage, hitting seven aces. The head to head series between the two has now gone 2-0 to world number ten Tsonga whose first win over the 92^nd-ranked dates from the 2008 Hamburg Masters.

Said Tsonga after the game: “Nicolas is a fantastic player and I knew I was going to have a tough match. I think today I maybe missed the start and it took time for me to get into the match. I wasn’t easy and it clearly could have gone both ways. I am happy I won, what counts in the end is the outcome of the match.”

Next up for Tsonga is Alexandr Dolgopolov who has made a free progress into the semi finals after his opponent Xavier Malisse retired at 3-6, 0-1 down. The third seeder is to meet Tsonga for the fourth time, the head to head series having gone 2-1 to the world number 20 Ukraine player whose most recent win comes from this term’s Miami Masters.

This will also be their third clash of the year after the Australian Open round of 32 which Dolgopolov won in five sets. Tsonga’s only win comes from last term’s Wimbledon event when he edged the tough Ukrainian in five sets. Dolgopolov has previously ousted Marcos Baghdatis 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 in the second term, while Tsonga beat Mathieu Rodrigues 6-2, 6-4 in his debut.

The same day, second seed Richard Gasquet packed from Mets. Gilles Muller, who has impressed with a several superior phases this year, stunned the hosts in two sets 6-3, 6-4 to meet Ivan Ljubicic in the best four round. The Luxemburg player won the opener thanks to an early break which helped him to clinch the first lead very easily.

As for the second set, it saw the same Muller convert one out of his three break point chances but also save all the five break points coming from the opposite side.  He finished the game with a 58 first serve percentage, a 32 return one and a 76 service percentage, hitting at the same time 11 aces past the French whose showing included a 77 first serve percentage, a 24 return one and four aces.

Muller has thus leveled the head to head series with the world number 15 whose only win comes from 2005.Next up for the Luxemburg player is Ivan Ljubicic who follows a 6-4, 6-3 win against revelation Igor Sijsling of Holland.

Fourth seed Ljubicic, who still lacks a title this year, needed just a couple of breaks to seal the victory. He converted two out of seven break points and saved Igor’s only chance in the first set. It took the Croat nearly one hour and a half to secure the semi final berth where he is expected to have a harder life against Muller.

Ljubicic fired 13 aces past the Dutch against whom he won 58 percent of first serve points, 35 of receiving ones and 73 of service balls. As for Sijsling, his showing included a poor 27 return percentage, six aces, a 50 first serve percentage, three double faults and a 65 service percentage.

Ljubicic, who was favoured by a BYE in the first day, had previously eliminated Nicolas Renavand 7-5, 7-5, while Muller has picked two straight set wins en route to he best four. He defeated this year’s Hale finalist Philipp Petzschner 7-6, 7-6 in the first round and Benoit Paire 7-6, 6-4 in the second one.

Metz Prize Money and points:

Winner – 72,600 euro and 250 points ATP

Runner up – 38,200 euro and 150 points ATP

Semi finalist – 20,700 euro and 90 points ATP

Quarter finalist – 11,800 euro and 45 points ATP

R16 – 6,940 euro and 20 points ATP

R28 – 4,120 euro and zero points

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