Tsonga Stays In The Hunt For Finals Berth; Verdasco Dealt Blow

ATP Staff
|
12.11.2009






Getty ImagesJo-Wilfried Tsonga is chasing a fourth ATP World Tour title of the season.





Defending BNP Paribas Masters champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga stayed in contention for a berth at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals by producing a strong serving display to crush fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-3 Thursday in the third round of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament in Paris (Bercy).
Tsonga
is currently 10th in the year-to-date South African Airways 2009 ATP
Rankings with 2,875 points, 425 points behind the eighth-placed Fernando Verdasco, who lost to Marin Cilic
in third-round action Thursday. In order to qualify for the eight-man
season finale, Tsonga must defend his title in Paris (Bercy). Last
year, the 24 year old defeated David Nalbandian in a winner-take-all final to secure the last spot at the season climax.

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"I'm
not here for the Finals; I'm here for Bercy," insisted Tsonga
afterwards. "I will only qualify if I win this tournament, so I'm not
thinking about London. I'm thinking about Bercy. I'm thinking about
defending my title, or even more, about going to get a new title
instead of thinking about London."
In his third successive
victory over the No. 12-ranked Simon, Tsonga fired 13 aces and lost
just four points on serve throughout the 52-minute clash. The Le Mans
native broke serve twice in the first set, winning four straight games
from 2-2, and an early break in the second set proved enough to secure
victory and improve to a 3-1 record over Simon.
"My level
of game is good right now, but during the past weeks I didn't play
well." lamented Tsonga. "I played a good first match here, and today,
of course, it was not a very tight match, but I was feeling the ball
well. I served very well in spite of the circumstances, so in fact I
feel a bit better than last year (when he won the title). But it's
going to be difficult [to defend the title], because the other players
also improved a lot compared to last year, like Novak or Soderling and
other players. They're all very good."
Tsonga is chasing his third ATP World Tour title of the season, following successes at the SA Tennis Open (d. Chardy) in Johannesburg and the Open 13 (d. Llodra) in Marseille in February and victory at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships (d. Youzhny) in Tokyo last month.
Cilic
took advantage of a nervous and, at times, erratic Verdasco to prevail
3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round, taking the Spaniard’s season-finale
qualification fate out of his own hands.
Verdasco, winner of the Pilot Pen Tennis (d. Querrey) trophy in New Haven and a semi-finalist at the Australian Open (l. to Nadal), stands on 3,300 points in the Battle for London and must wait to see how Robin Soderling (3,010), Tsonga and Fernando Gonzalez (2,870) fare in Paris (Bercy) before learning if he will qualify for the season finale for the first time.
The 21-year-old Cilic, a two-time winner on the ATP World Tour this year at the Aircel Chennai Open (d. Devvarman) and the PBZ Zagreb Indoors
(d. Ancic), is through to the quarter-finals at an ATP World Tour
Masters 1000 tournament for the second time. He also reached the last
eight at the Rogers Cup (l. to Simon) in Canada last year.
Cilic next will face No. 16 seed Gael Monfils, who saved all six break points he faced and struck 16 aces to defeat fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau
6-4, 6-3. The 23-year-old Monfils, who recorded his 40th match win of
the season (40-18) record, is through to the quarter-finals of his
hometown tournament for the first time in four visits

Merciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

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