Court Philipe Chatrier was full to the seams, despite the rain, to watch the home hope and 14th seed aim for a QF spot at Roland Garros. Across the other side of the net was #4 seed Tomas Berdych. Berdych led the head to head 6-2 and Tsonga had never beaten him on clay. After a late start to the match because of the delayed WTA match beforehand due to the rain (Roland Garros courts have no roof), out came Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and Tomas Berdych.
With the crowd fully behind him, Tsonga started very well and hit some great shots, while Berdych did not seem to be playing well at all. There was visible taping on his back, which has led to rumours of a back injury on Twitter; there was no confirmation from his team or himself and if it was effecting his play Berdcyh hid it well. Powerful down the line forehands from Tsonga gave him the early break in the first set and he took the set without difficulty 6-3.
The second set started with the Frenchman still with all the momentum; he was just hitting everything in sight and keeping it in. Tsonga hit what must be the shot of the tournament when serving in the second se–a superb on the run one handed backhand down the line that kissed the line and secured him the point. Whatever Berdych threw at him, Tsonga had the answer for. Very soon the crowd was going even more wild than before as Tsonga took the set 6-2 and had a 2 set to love lead.
Into the third set and Berdcyh started to play a little better (he really was out of sorts today) and was holding serve easier; Tsonga did force a break and would be serving for the match at 5-4 in the set. Tsonga either got tight or nervous as his serve deserted him and with a very poor game and Berdych broke back to level. This set looked headed for a tiebreak and sure enough that is where it ended up. Tsonga continued the momentum and soon had a mini break, only to see Berdych come back again and steal the set in the breaker.
Set four started the same way for Berdych as he broke Tsonga early in the set and it looked like the match would head to a fifth set. However, Tsonga found a way back in and broke back to level up at 3-3. Tsonga was back to playing as he had done in the first two sets and was attacking everything and not much was missing. Withs ublime forehands that Berdych was unable to respond to and powerful backhands Tsonga was soon up to 5-3 and had a second chance to serve for the match and a place in the QF. He made no mistake this time as Berdych was unable to make any impact in the game. Tsonga served out to love and booked his place in the QF, giving Tsonga a big win over Berdcyh in a four set thriller.
Berdych now will need to re-group for the grass season. Although he generally has not been playing badly lately he has not had any big wins, which is strange considering he is currently #4 in the world (which, admittedly, is mostly due to the fall of Rafael Nadal down the rankings). Berdych has not beaten any of those in the top 4 recently and this in fact was his first lost to a player ranked outside the top 10 for a while. Berdcyh certainly did not look happy at all during the match, and with the rumours abounding about a possible back injury we have to wonder if or how that will impact the upcoming grass season.
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