Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has defeated Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in the first round of the China Open. Tsonga won the match by 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(3). It was a very close game and went all the way down to the wire. But, Tsonga kept himself composed towards the end of the match and managed to reach the second round. This was the 4th match between these two players and Tsonga is yet to lose a match against Istomin. It took the Frenchman a bit less than 2 hours to knock Istomin out of the competition.
In the opening set, both the players held their service in the first two games and the scores were levelled at 1-1. Istomin gave Tsonga the first blow in the third game and then, held his service in the fourth game to take a lead of 3-1. The Uzbek player didn’t let Tsonga come back into the set after that. He maintained the lead till the end of the set to win it by 6-4.
In the second set, Tsonga was on fire. Istomin held his service in the first game, but, that was the only game to be won by him in the set. Thereafter, it was a Tsonga show. He broke Istomin’s service thrice and won the next six games on the trot to win the second set by 6-1.
In the final set, both the players held their entire serves and the scores were tied at 6-6 at the end of the 12th game. Tsonga had got two breakpoints, but, he didn’t manage to capitalize on any of them. But, in the tie breaker, the Frenchman played superbly and won the match.
Tsonga will take on Nikolay Davydenko in his next match.