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Federer Beats Wimbledon Foe Tsonga At ATP Finals
By: Lauren Lynch
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Photo Credit: Andy Kentla
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(November 20, 2011) Lasting two-minutes-under an hour and a half, defending champion Roger Federer ousted his first opponent Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in a strong start at the Barclay ATP World Tour Finals in London attempting to become the first man to win six titles at the year-end event.
The World No. 4 improved his record to seven wins to three against the Frenchman, who he is played seven times this year, and got revenge for Wimbledon where Tsonga defeated him in the quarterfinals on his favorite surface.
Federer said, "Yeah, I mean, you just try to stay calm, you know. Absolutely it's not always in your control when you play Jo. That's the beauty of it. I kind of enjoy that to some degree. But I think also partially because it was a first round match, I think that's maybe why we saw some ups and downs from both players. But that's kind of normal. That's why I'm actually pretty happy that I was able to come through today. "
Federer hit 15 winners and 27 unforced errors.
The first set came easily to Federer with two breaks at 3-1 and at 6-2 giving him the set in which Tsonga was giving away points with long shots and double faults. The second set was marked by Federer’s struggle with his one-handed backhand and Tsonga took advantage with two breaks at 1-2 and 2-5 with some note-worthy drop shots.
“I think he was a bit surprised because I played so bad in the first set, then I played correctly, you know, said Tsonga “I'm still in the tournament and I will try to play my best tennis on the next match.”
The Swiss former No. 1 only surrendered two service games and 21 points of 73 on his serve. He benefitted from Tsonga’s errors in the match despite the strong second set. For example, in the last game, the World No. 6 missed a volley and double faulted giving Federer his victory in which he won 71 of 134 total points.
The crowd seemed to be loyal to the five-time victor and was cheering him on seeming to be a Federer-happy atmosphere.
Tsonga admitted of the spectators in the 02 arena, “Was good. But everybody was for Roger, so... That's okay.”
Check out Tsonga's Interview:
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