There have been a couple of now memorable matches played between the icon, Roger Federer, and the exuberant, excitable Jo-Wilfried Tsonga over the past little while.
Think of Wimbledon, earlier this year. Tsonga came back from two sets down to record a thrilling five-set victory over Federer, denying the Swiss yet another title at the all-England club. Or the Rogers Cup two years ago, when Federer had Tsonga on the ropes, up 5-1 in the final set, only to lose the match in a tie-breaker.
But this? Nothing like this has happened before. For Federer, Thursday night’s loss to Tsonga in third-round action at the Rogers Cup will be memorable for all the wrong reasons.
Tsonga and Federer began by splitting two close sets and then the bottom fell out on the Swiss star and No. 3 tournament seed in the third. Tsonga rattled off the first five games of the third set and eventually knocked Federer, a two-time champion, out of the tournament with a 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1 victory.
The capacity crowd tried to cheer on Federer in the third set, but Tsonga’s level was too high. On a cool night, Tsonga broke Federer’s serve in the second and fourth games of the final set and for a time there, it wasn’t even certain if the Swiss great would get a game.
In the end, the powerful Frenchman served out the match in routine fashion. Tsonga, the 13th seed, will now meet Spain’s Nicolas Almagro in the quarter finals. Almagro knocked off France’s Richard Gasquet in the other evening match by a 7-6, 6-3 count.
According to Federer, there were significant differences between his two losses to Tsonga, in Montreal, at the Rogers Cup.
“Two years ago he didn't really deserve the victory,” said a candid Federer. “I believe he played a lot better today, and he deserved it today. Two years ago I think he was lucky to pull out the win.
Tonight he played well and he played extraordinary shots as we know he can do. I was not able to do that.
Tsonga had a similar take on this most recent encounter, noting: “I really played good tonight. I was opportunistic. I didn't miss any opportunities I had. I was able to break before he did. I'm very happy the way I won this match.
Afterward, Federer was surprisingly stoical about the result. When asked if he was surprised by the result, Federer answered: “I mean, he beat me at Wimbledon, so I don’t know how much of a surprise it is.
“He’s playing well. I thought if he was going to play well again - and me not at my best - he could do it again.”
Nor was Federer prepared to blame the changing weather conditions for the loss.
“I didn’t think it was particularly windy or cool,” he said. “It was fine.
“Sure, it’s different playing under the lights all of a sudden again. It hasn’t happened in a while actually. It might be the last match I played under the lights was against him in Rome. That was on clay. Before that, probably Miami. So it takes some getting used to.”
For Federer, it marked yet another disappointing loss in a year in which he has won just a single title - in Doha at the start of the year. The only other time this season that he didn’t reach at least the quarter finals in a tournament came in Rome in May when Federer lost in the third round to Gasquet.
But there is always still the U.S. Open and as Federer noted, there is still time to get ready: “New York is in one month. I feel it is far away.
“If you want to talk about the U.S. Open, I can tell you I feel good mentally and I’m playing well.”
Federer became the third member of men’s tennis Big 4 to fall in the early rounds of the Rogers Cup, joining No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 4 Andy Murray on the sidelines, a point Tsonga stressed in his interview, post-match.
theglobeandmail.com
I don't have much to say on the matter, other then I think I'm going to wipe this match from my memory and start looking forward to the U.S. Open in a couple of weeks (as well as Cincinnati next week).
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