Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 35th in the world, qualified Thursday for the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters 1000 by beating Jan-Lennard Struff (36) 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) after having saved two match points in the tie-break.
"It was a really contested match, played at one or two points, it could have been the opposite scenario, so I'm very happy to be here tonight," said the Frenchman at the press conference. .
He will find Nadal or Wawrinka in quarter
Tsonga had not reached the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000 since Paris in 2016. He will play Friday against Rafael Nadal (2nd) or Stan Wawrinka (16th), who face Thursday night for a place in half.
The German was faster to get into action and quickly led 4-1 in the first set. Not very effective on the fly (1/6), dropped by his service (2 aces against 5 for Struff), Tsonga was completely dominated by the stake of Struff: he scored only two points on the commitment of his opponent throughout the first run.
"In those moments, the trap you can fall into is trying to do other things and then take a little more risk, make a lot of mistakes and put yourself in danger," Tsonga said. But playing tennis like Struff did "for an hour and a half is very complicated," continued the 34-year-old Frenchman, who sought to "hold on as long as possible, try to stay in the game for the longest time." possible, so that at a given moment it drops a little bit and that it allows me to impose a little more my game ".
A sixth quarter-final at Bercy
That's what happened in the second set: Tsonga took the break to lead 2-1 and maintained his lead until the end of the inning. In the deciding set, the forces again balanced and the two players reached the tie-break.
The German then got two match points to lead 6-4, saved by Tsonga who chained four straight points, including a Struff smash in the bottom of the net at 6-6. Tsonga, winner of the 2008 edition, will play his sixth quarter-final at Bercy.