Tsonga Overcomes Slow Start; Joins Verdasco In Second Round

Written by: Staff on 27th May 2012

Tsonga Overcomes Slow Start; Joins Verdasco In Second Round

epa03238410 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France returns to Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia during their first round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 27 May 2012. EPA/YOAN VALAT |

(Origianl Story: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2012/05/Roland-Garros/Roland-Garros-Sunday-Tsonga-Verdasco-Win-Tests.aspx)

Fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame a slow start to beat Russian qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 at Roland Garros on Sunday.

Tsonga won 10 of his 21 service points in the first set, which saw Kuznetsov hit 17 winners. But the 27-year-old Frenchmen regained his composure and hit 10 aces and 28 winners for his 25th match win of the season (25-10 overall).

Tsonga will be aiming to better his two fourth-round exits at Roland Garros in 2009 (l. to del Potro) and 2010 (l. to Youzhny). He is making his fifth appearance at the clay-court Grand Slam championship.

Spanish left-hander and No. 14 seed Fernando Verdasco committed 27 unforced errors to knock out Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(4). Darcis, who has defeated two Top 20 opponents in his career, won 22 of 81 points on return of serve.

The pair also met at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell last month. Verdasco’s best major championship result came as No. 14 seed at the 2009 Australian Open when he lost to Rafael Nadal 6-4 in a epic semi-final.

Topics: Andrey Kuznetsov, Fernando Verdasco, French Open 2012, French tennis news, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Roland Garros, Sports, Steve Darcis