Frenchmen Benoit Paire and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (19) have made it into the Round of 16 of the US Open. They both had straight sets wins over their respective opponents in near identical times as Paire upset Tommy Robredo (26) 7-6 6-1 6-1 in 2 hours and 6 minutes and Tsonga took out Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3 7-5 6-2 in 2 hours and 3 minutes. They will face each other in the next round ensuring that a Frenchman is in the quarterfinals of the men’s singles.
Paire who upset 2014 finalist Kei Nishikori (4) in the opening round at the start of the tournament is continuing to show the superior form that saw him winning that match. In the opening set, there were no breaks of serve despite both player having at least one opportunity to break. The set was forced into a breaker where Paire won it 7-3 points. In the 2nd set, Paire began to assert himself and created more break opportunities for himself. He had 7 in the set converting on 3 of those occasions to take 6 straight games and the set for a 2-0 sets lead. Paire came to net 50 times winning the point 37 of those times. Robredo only won the point 12 of the 21 times he came to net. The final set was no different as again Paire was the dominant player breaking Robredo twice to take the match 7-6 6-1 6-1. Paire had 52 winners compared to only 19 from Robredo.
Tsonga had a tougher test against his opponent Stakhovsky but he was the better player on the day. Stakhovsky was about to save the first 4 break points he faced but he was broken in the crucial 8th game to allow Tsonga to serve out the set 6-3. In the 2nd set, Stakhovsky was determined not to go out quietly but again, he was not match for the Frenchman. The Ukrainian was only able to create one break point opportunity for himself which he failed to convert. In the pivotal 11th game, he was broken again, allowing Tsonga again to serve for the set and a 2-0 sets lead. Tsonga wrested control of the 3rd set by taking a 2-0 lead and looked back . Tsonga broke again in the 5th game for 4-1 lead and maintained this lead to close out the match 6-3 7-5 6-2.
This is Tsonga 4th appearance in the 2nd week of the US Open. His best performance was back in 2011 when he made to the quarterfinals. For Paire, this is his best performance in any major having never gone past the 3rd round before.
