News of the day - 2009

TSONGA WINS THE TITLE, TSONGA WINS THE TITLE

After 1h38, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bacame the 5th French player to win the Open 13. The big man from "Le Mans" defeated his compatriot Michael Llodra 7-5 7-6 to win the 2009 tournament.

The first point of the game, the toss, was won by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who chose to receive putting immediately the pressure on his opponent of the day Michael Llodra. The choice was a wise one as the older of the two players kicked off with a double fault, not a single first serve in the opener and a loss of serve. A break consolidated by big Jo to go up 2-0. Knowing the service quality of the man who punished Novak Djokovic, 3rd player in the world rankings, during yesterday's semi-finals, a break advantage can be synonymous of the gain of a set. Fortunately for the Parisian, it was Tsonga's turn to show signs of nerves in the fourth game and was forced to give up his break. At 5-5, Tsonga made his move. The better ranked of the two players up 15-40 did not miss the opportunity to break Llodra for the second time in the set. The Cassius Clay look-a-like, followed up with a love game to and went up a set.

At the change of sides, Llodra was treated for a left shoulder pain. Will this injury be problematic for the lefty? The opening game of the second set showed no signs of problems for one of the few serve and volleyers of the tour. he held his serve with no signs of hinderance. In fact both players went on to hold serve until the tie breaker. And it was in the clutch that Tsonga proved to be the stronger player. Llodra started off with a double fault, he served 2 in total in the breaker (5 in the match) versus none for JW. The Parisian also hit a wild smash that was more than easily makable. Tsonga wasn't asking for so much. The big man fired a few text book Tsonga serves and put an end to the hostilities.

7-5 7-6(2) was the final score of the match. Tsonga clocked in his fourth career title, the 2nd this season (Johannesburg 2 weeks ago) and the way he's playing it will surely not be the last.