Pete Sampras great shots selection against Andre Agassi (Wimbledon 1999 FINAL)

Gods of Tennis Video Ranking: five / five

TSONGA BEATS MELZER

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has defeated Jurgen Melzer of Austria in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters. Tsonga won the match in the straight sets by 6-3, 6-0.

The tall Frenchman didn’t take even an hour to defeat his opponent. The match was finished in just 57 minutes. Tsonga cruised into the quarter finals with this win.

Melzer is an experienced player and at one point of time, he was in top 10 in the world rankings. So, he was expected to battle hard against Tsonga, but, that wasn’t the case to be. The Austrian was outsmarted in both the sets and he managed to win just 3 games in the match.

This was the 3^rd match between these two players and Tsonga has ended up on the winning side in all those three matches.

In the first set, Tsonga broke Melzer’s serve in the 4^th game to take a lead of 3-1. He enhanced that lead with a serve hold in the 5^th game.

In the next 3 games, both the players held their serve and at the end of the 8^th game, Melzer was down by 3-5.

To prevent Tsonga from finishing off the set in the 9^th game, the Austrian player had to sneak a breakthrough, but, he couldn’t do that. Tsonga held his serve in the 9^th game and won the first set by 6-3.

In the second set, Tsonga was in a hurry. He just didn’t let his opponent settle in. He blew him away with some great forehand shots and secured a bagel to wrap up the match.

In the quarter final match, Tsonga will face the Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka who made his way into the quarter finals with a straight set victory over Andy Murray.

Sampras vs Stich 1992 Wimbledon QF

Gods of Tennis Online video Ranking: five / five

TSONGA THROUGH

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has defeated Viktor Troicki of Serbia in the second round of the Sony Open on Saturday. Tsonga won the match in the straight sets by 7-6(6), 6-3.

This was Tsonga’s 6^th match against Troicki. In the earlier 5 matches, Troicki had defeated Tsonga 3 times.

In the 3^rd round, Tsonga will face Jarkko Nieminen of Finland. Nieminen secured a berth in the third round by defeating Martin Klizan of Slovakia.

In the very first game of the match, Tsonga’s serve was broken. Troicki served out the next game with ease and Tsonga was down by 0-2.

The Frenchman equalized with a serve break in the 6^th game. Both the players held their serve in the next two games and the scorecard was showing 4-4 before the start of the 9^th game.

In the 9^th game, Tsonga committed a couple of unforced errors at a crucial moment which helped Troicki in getting his second breakthrough in the match.

However, the Italian player couldn’t maintain that lead and dropped his serve in the 10^th game which equalized the scores again.

In the next couple of games, there were no serve breaks which meant that the scores were tied and there would be a tie breaker.

In the tie breaker, Troicki couldn’t handle the pressure well. A couple of loose shots by him at the end allowed Tsonga to seal the set.

Just like the first set, there was a serve break in the first game of the second set as well, but, this time it was Troicki who dropped his serve. He was leading by 40-15 at one point of time, but, Tsonga pulled him back from that stage and played a few fantastic backhand shots to get a breakthrough.

The next 7 games went with the serve and Tsonga was ahead by 5-3 at the end of the 8^th game. The Frenchman smashed a couple of winners in the 9^th game and finished off the match with another breakthrough.

FEDERER HEADS HOME

Roger Federer has been defeated by Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in the semi final of Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Friday. Berdych won the match by 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-4.

This was the 17^th clash between these two players. Out of the previous 16 matches, Berdych had won 10, while, Federer had won 6.

At one point of time, Federer was on the verge of winning the match. In the tie breaker of the second set, he had the match points, but the Swiss superstar lost the plot from that stage and eventually got defeated.

Federer looked disappointed while talking to the reporters after the match. He said, “It really hurts when you lose in this manner. I had match points and I should have won the match, but, unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”

On the other hand, Berdych was ecstatic after securing victory over Federer. He said, “I was really nervous in the tie breaker, but, somehow, I pulled that off. Winning the second set gave me a lot of confidence and then, I think I played at my best in the third set. A couple of poor shots by me in the tie breaker could have secured Roger’s victory. But, fortunately, I managed to turn things around.”

Federer had a fine start in the match. He didn’t drop his serve even once in the opening set and with a breakthrough in the eighth game; he won the first set by 6-3. At this point my bonus bet on a Federer straight set win was looking good, and Unibet must have been shaking in their boots. Sadly it didn’t quite come to pass.

Roger Federer Defeats Andy Murray, Ties Pete Sampras with 7th Wimbledon Championship

Gods of Tennis Movie Ranking: five / five