Jo Wilfried Tsonga overcame a second-set loss to beat Marcos Baghdatis 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-2 in the final match of the first day at the Australian Open in the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne in a match between two former Australian Open finalists (Baghdatis lost to Roger Federer in 2006, Tsonga lost to Novak Djokovic in 2008). With this win Tsonga has extended his winning streak to 6-0 over Baghdatis.
Tsonga, who reached the semifinal in Auckland last week losing to Roberto Bautista Agut, hit 39 winners including 13 aces but committed 42 unforced errors. He will take on Australian 18-year-old player Omar Jasika in the second round. Jasika beat Ilya Marchenko 6-4 3-6 6-0 6-4 in the first round.
After dropping the first set 6-4 Baghdatis converted one of his two break point opportunities of the match to take a 5-4 lead in the second set en route to drawing level on sets. Tsonga bounced back by breaking once to take the third set with 6-4. The fourth set went on serve until 2-2 when Tsonga broke serve in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. The player from Le Mans got the second consecutive break in the seventh game for 5-2 and served out for the match in the next game. Tsonga celebrated his win with his customary leap across the court.
Tsonga is the fourth French player to reach the second round after Gilles Simon, Pierre Hugues Herbert and Quentin Halys.
“I am feeling really good. I want to play a good tournament. I tried to play my best tennis today but it is not easy to play well against him in the first round. Today was a good way to enter the tournament”, said Tsonga.
Last week’s Auckland champion Roberto Bautista Agut overcame Martin Klizan in five sets with 6-2 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-2. In 2014 the Spanish player beat Juan Martin Del Potro to reach the fourth round at Melbourne Park in 2014.
Andreas Seppi, who famously upset Roger Federer last year in Melbourne, edged out Teymuraz Gabashvili 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 7-6 (12-10) to advance to the second round where he will face Denis Kudla.
