World No 3 Roger Federer lost in three sets to 8th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 3-6, 6-2 , 7-5 at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters today, becoming the latest in a series of top seeds to be eliminated from the tournament.
Following the shock exit of top seed and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic to Czech World No. 55 Jiri Vesely, tournament 4th seed Stan Wawrinka was also eliminated from the tournament, although the Swiss 2015 French Open champion was ousted by King of Clay Rafael Nada, and not part of a shock upset.
Federer was widely expected to win today’s match, but Tsonga outplayed his Swiss rival today. The tall Frenchman hit three aces in the first set, although it was Federer who won that set 6-3, taking Tsonga to break point 6 times and managing to capitalize successfully on three occasions. Tsonga managed to break back only once.
The scorelines perhaps did not reflect how close the set had been, although Federer, who had committed two double faults, looked on course for victory at that point.
Tsonga came back with a resounding attack in the second set, breaking Federer three times; the Frenchman was also significantly more successful on his first serves, with Federer faltering uncharacteristically after being taken to break point eight times.
He closed out the second set 6-2, with the two players now one set apiece.
Federer appeared to find his feet again in the third set, with each player holding serve and the match poised to go either way. It was Tsonga who went on to break Federer towards the end of the final set, eventually winning it 7-5.
Tsonga is now through to the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters.
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