Tennis: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils Survive Third Round
January 24th 2009 11:56
Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga survived a third-set lapse to overcome Israeli qualifier Dudi Sela 6-4 6-2 1-6 6-1 and book his place in the Australian Open fourth round on Saturday.
The No 5 seed was cruising at two sets to love when he seemed to lose concentration and allowed Sela back in the match.
However, the 2008 runner-up quickly regrouped and overwhelmed the Israeli in the fourth set to win a highly entertaining match.
Tsonga made his breakthrough at the 2008 Australian Open, thrilling crowds with his athleticism and shot-making on his way to a memorable final against eventual champion Novak Djokovic.
But he suffered a knee injury in May which required surgery and forced him out of the game for three months and caused him to miss both the French Open and Wimbledon.
He recovered in time for the US Open, where he made the third round, then went on to win the Paris Masters in November.
"I felt really good on the court today," he said. "I was happy to win; we played a great match."
Tsonga now faces either American No 9 seed James Blake or Russian No 18 seed Igor Andreev in the fourth round.
"That is going to be a great match, they are both really good players so I know it will be difficult, but I'm ready," he said.
Gael Monfils has scored an impressive straight sets win over No 17 seed, from Spain, Nicolas Almagro in the third round of the Australian Open.
The win sees the exciting Frenchman advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open for the first time.
Monfils, whose best grand slam performance was a semi-final berth at last year's French Open - beat Almagro 6-4 6-3 7-5 in a third-round match lasting two hours and 10 minutes.
In three previous campaigns at Melbourne Park, the 22-year-old Frenchman had never advanced further than the third round.
Monfils, who is coached by Australian Roger Rasheed, committed only 24 unforced errors, compared to 43 from the Spaniard.
He dominated Almagro over the early part of the match, breaking the Spaniard once in the first set and twice in the second to open up a 2-0 lead.
Almagro fought back hard in the third set and games went on serve until the Spaniard was serving at 5-6.
On the first point of the game Monfils hit a backhand return that appeared to land wide, but which was called in.
After checking with his coach, Almagro asked for a Hawkyeye challenge only to be told he was not allowed to as he hadn't asked for it immediately.
Almagro argued with the umpire for some minutes without success and appeared distracted when he went back to serve, promptly losing the game to 15 to hand the match to Monfils.
In another game No.6 seed Frenchman Gilles Simon beat Croatia's unseeded Mario Ancic 7-6 (7/2) 6-4 6-2 to book his place in the Australian Open fourth round on Saturday.
He will play countryman Gael Monfils for a quarter-final berth.
Agence France-Presse
The No 5 seed was cruising at two sets to love when he seemed to lose concentration and allowed Sela back in the match.
However, the 2008 runner-up quickly regrouped and overwhelmed the Israeli in the fourth set to win a highly entertaining match.
Tsonga made his breakthrough at the 2008 Australian Open, thrilling crowds with his athleticism and shot-making on his way to a memorable final against eventual champion Novak Djokovic.
But he suffered a knee injury in May which required surgery and forced him out of the game for three months and caused him to miss both the French Open and Wimbledon.
Gael Monfils
He recovered in time for the US Open, where he made the third round, then went on to win the Paris Masters in November.
"I felt really good on the court today," he said. "I was happy to win; we played a great match."
Tsonga now faces either American No 9 seed James Blake or Russian No 18 seed Igor Andreev in the fourth round.
"That is going to be a great match, they are both really good players so I know it will be difficult, but I'm ready," he said.
Gael Monfils has scored an impressive straight sets win over No 17 seed, from Spain, Nicolas Almagro in the third round of the Australian Open.
The win sees the exciting Frenchman advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open for the first time.
Monfils, whose best grand slam performance was a semi-final berth at last year's French Open - beat Almagro 6-4 6-3 7-5 in a third-round match lasting two hours and 10 minutes.
In three previous campaigns at Melbourne Park, the 22-year-old Frenchman had never advanced further than the third round.
Monfils, who is coached by Australian Roger Rasheed, committed only 24 unforced errors, compared to 43 from the Spaniard.
He dominated Almagro over the early part of the match, breaking the Spaniard once in the first set and twice in the second to open up a 2-0 lead.
Almagro fought back hard in the third set and games went on serve until the Spaniard was serving at 5-6.
On the first point of the game Monfils hit a backhand return that appeared to land wide, but which was called in.
After checking with his coach, Almagro asked for a Hawkyeye challenge only to be told he was not allowed to as he hadn't asked for it immediately.
Almagro argued with the umpire for some minutes without success and appeared distracted when he went back to serve, promptly losing the game to 15 to hand the match to Monfils.
In another game No.6 seed Frenchman Gilles Simon beat Croatia's unseeded Mario Ancic 7-6 (7/2) 6-4 6-2 to book his place in the Australian Open fourth round on Saturday.
He will play countryman Gael Monfils for a quarter-final berth.
Agence France-Presse
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