Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had one more surprise in his bag of upsets, beating second seed Roger Federer 7-5, 7-6 (7/3) to cap a scintillating march to the Rogers Cup title in Toronto on Sunday.
After knocking off world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the third round, taking out twice champion and eighth seed Andy Murray in the quarter-finals and seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov in the semis, Tsonga denied 17-time Grand Slam winner Federer a landmark 80th career ATP Tour title.
“I played well all this week, I beat many good guys,” Tsonga said. “It’s a big achievement because I worked really hard to come back from my knee injury last year. Unfortunately, there is no secret … behind this there is a lot of work. I’m waiting for this since [a] couple of months now. I was looking for my best level, today I had it and it’s great.”
Photo: EPA
Certainly there was no disputing that Tsonga’s win was well-deserved, the 13th-seeded Frenchman’s hit list including players who had won seven of the past 10 titles in Canada (Djokovic 2012, 2011, 2007; Murray 2010, 2009; and Federer 2006, 2004).
It marked the first time since 2002 that a player had beaten the four top seeds to win a ATP Masters series event.
“He beat great players along the way and backed it up with another great final,” said Federer, who turned 33 on Friday and had been hoping to celebrate his birthday by lifting the trophy. “No excuses. I think he played really solid and well when he had to. I wish I could have played a bit better in the finals today. There were things I could have done better, but overall it was a positive week. I go away from this feeling good about my chances [in Cincinnati] next week and also at the US Open.”
In 16 career meetings Tsonga had beaten the Swiss maestro just five times, but three came on the Canadian hard courts.
With Federer appearing in his fifth Canadian final and Tsonga having advanced to at least the semi-finals in three of his four trips to Canada, both men had a cool look of confidence as they walked onto a blazing hot Centre Court.
In a week of superb performances, Tsonga may have saved his best for last, the second seed unable to manage a single break-point chance the entire match.
Federer did not allow Tsonga many break-point opportunities himself, but the one he did, in the first set, was all the Frenchman needed, converting the chance to clinch the set and the lead.
Play remained tight in the second set with no break points, the set going to a tiebreak won by Tsonga, who took four straight points after the breaker had been deadlocked at 3-3
“What is achieved is achieved and I will just continue on this way, continue to work hard,” Tsonga said when asked about his US Open chances. “This win gives me a lot of hope for the rest of the year, of course, but I will continue to do my work like I did [the] last couple of months and I hope I will continue to win.”
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