Roger Federer kicked off his bid for a record sixth title at the ATP World Tour Finals with a 6-2 2-6 6-4 victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Swiss master gets better of Frenchman in three sets
Roger Federer kicked off his bid for a record sixth title at the ATP World Tour Finals with a hard-fought 6-2 2-6 6-4 victory over France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in London on Sunday.
The 16-time Grand Slam champion looked on course for an easy afternoon as he raced through the opening set in just 21 minutes.
Tsonga rallied in impressive style and, having levelled the match, looked every bit the equal of his opponent in the decider.
But Federer ruthlessly capitalised on his chance when it came and broke in what proved to be the last game of the match to get his campaign off to a successful start.
The Swiss master, who is tied with Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl on five triumphs at the end of season finale, has now won his last 13 matches having won in both Basel and Paris in recent weeks.
Playing at the O2 Arena for the first time, Tsonga appeared rather overawed early on and could make simply no impact on the Federer serve.
By contrast, the world number four was a model of confidence and efficiency and broke in the fourth game to establish an advantage he would not relinquish.
Unforced errors
Indeed, Tsonga would drop his serve again when serving to stay in the first set and, making a host of unforced errors, appeared set for a drubbing.
But the Frenchman then benefited from an unexpected series of Federer mistakes in the third game of the second set to break.
Up until that point Federer had looked in cruise control, but the break gave Tsonga the lift he needed and, with the crowd now getting into the contest, the former Australian Open finalist suddenly discovered something like his best form as he used his brutal power to devastating effect.
His fearsome forehand was becoming a real feature of the match and it was to the fore as he secured another break to move 5-2 ahead, before clinching the set when Federer netted a backhand.
A tense third set remained on serve with the Frenchman the first to face a break point in the fifth game, saving it with a pinpoint forehand.
But, serving to stay in the contest at 4-5, Tsonga did crack when an easy volley dumped into the net was followed by a double-fault as Federer brought up three match points at 0-40.
He staved off the first with a blistering first serve, but Federer accepted the second when he took advantage of a fortunate return to neatly place a backhand pass in behind his opponent.
