Jo-Wilfried Tsonga looked finished.
The 15th seed was down 2-5 in the fifth set against Denis Shapovalov, and the #NextGenATP Canadian had all the momentum, having broken Tsonga in the second game of the final set.
But from out of nowhere, Tsonga sprinted to life, coming back from 30/30, 2-5 to win the final five games of the match and advance to the third round of the Australian Open 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(4), 7-5.
[ALSO LIKE]
“Of course I'm tired but really happy. I did a big fight today,” Tsonga said on court after the match. “It's not easy to play against those young guns. They play great. They go for everything so it's difficult for me to defend.”
It's the 10th time Tsonga has reached the third round in Melbourne, and he kept alive his hopes of making his second title match at the season's first Grand Slam. Tsonga also advanced to the Australian Open final in 2008 (l. to Djokovic), his best Grand Slam showing.
The French veteran had never lost in the second round in Melbourne, but Shapovalov had beaten him the last time they had played, during the second round of the 2017 US Open.
And the 18-year-old Canadian had the match on his racquet. But serving at 5-3, Shapovalov landed only one first serve, and Tsonga pounced on Shapovalov's second offerings, breaking to 15. Tsonga served out the match to love before leaping around Margaret Court Arena in celebration.
The 32-year-old Frenchman will next face Brit Kyle Edmund, who made quick work of Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 in 89 minutes. Istomin shocked six-time champion Novak Djokovic in the second round of last year's Australian Open. The third-round contest will be their first FedEx ATP Head2Head meetingread full article
