13 November 2008
Tsonga was better than Djokovic
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga avoided a Masters Cup whitewash as he came from a set down to beat world No 3 Novak Djokovic 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 in Shanghai.
The Frenchman, who had lost his first two matches in the season-ending tournament, looked on his way to a third defeat when Djokovic, who had already qualified for the semi-final, won the first set in 25 minutes.
However, Tsonga fought back and broke Djokovic at 6-5 in the second set to square the match, after the Serbian had sent a forehand long on set point.
In the decider, Tsonga grabbed an early break to take a 3-0 lead before another quickly followed as he wrapped up the third set 6-1 to seal an emphatic comeback.
Tsonga was pleased with his victory. “He was better than me in the first two sets, but I took the second one. It was daylight robbery!” Tsonga said. “And then for him maybe it was difficult to stay concentrated because he’s qualified and he has to think about the next match.”
Djokovic, the Australian Open champion who beat Tsonga in the Melbourne Park final, will be joined in the semi-finals by Nikolay Davydenko after the Russian thrashed Juan Martin del Potro in straight sets.
The world No 5 broke the 20-year-old del Potro twice in each set to win 6-3, 6-2 in 86 minutes.
Davydenko takes second place in Gold Group behind Djokovic, while del Potro can look forward to next week’s Davis Cup final against Spain.
“I feel great. I thought I had a chance to beat Djokovic but I didn’t, so today was my last chance to get to the semi-finals,” Davydenko said. “I saw del Potro was nervous in the first set and in the second set he lost a bit of concentration and made more mistakes.”
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