Tsonga Shocks Novak, Roddick wins Beijing

So much for my prediction about Novak Djokovic beating Jo Wilfried Tsonga for the Bangkok title....Tsonga was able to pull through in dramatic fashion.  Also Andy Roddick recorded a much needed title in Beijing with a three set win over Dudi Sela...it's A-Rod's third title of the year, and helps his position for making the year end Masters Cup.  Jelena Jankovic and Maria Kirilenko both won their respective WTA Tour titles this week:

BANGKOK RESULTS – SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2008

Singles - Finals

[2] J Tsonga (FRA) d [1] N Djokovic (SRB) 76(4) 64

Doubles - Finals

[1] L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) d S Lipsky (USA) / D Martin (USA) 64 76(4)

FINAL REVIEW – TSONGA DOWNS DJOKOVIC TO CLAIM FIRST ATP TITLE

• French second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga captured his maiden ATP singles title by avenging his Australian Open final defeat to Novak Djokovic with a 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over the Serbian top seed in the final on Sunday.
• The 23-year-old Tsonga, who made his return from knee surgery at the US Open after a three month absence, becomes the ninth first-time ATP title winner this season, matching the achievements of Kei Nishikori (Delray Beach), Sergiy Stakhovsky (Zagreb), Sam Querrey (Las Vegas), Marcel Granollers (Houston), Victor Hanescu (Gstaad), Juan Martin del Potro (Stuttgart), Albert Montanes (Amersfoort) and Marin Cilic (New Haven).
• The victory gives a boost to Tsonga’s chances of qualifying for Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai for the first time; the Le Mans native was in 18th position in the ATP 2008 Race standings at the start of the week, 94 points behind No. 8 James Blake, and will now add 35 Race points to his tally.
• World No. 20 Tsonga, who now improves to a 5-6 lifetime record against Top 10 players, trailed No. 3 Novak Djokovic 3-4 in the first set with the Belgrade native holding a break advantage. However, Tsonga hit back with two straight games to lead 5-4 and went on to clinch the tie-break 7-4. A break of serve in the ninth game of the second set handed Tsonga a 5-4 lead and, after saving two break points, he closed out the victory after 1 hr., 41 min.
• The last time the two had met was in the final of the Australian Open – Tsonga’s maiden ATP final – after Djokovic had defeated Roger Federer and Tsonga had knocked out Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. On that occasion, Djokovic triumphed in four sets to capture his first Grand Slam title.
• Since then, Tsonga has reached a career-high South African Airways ATP Ranking of No. 11 (May 26, 2008) and also advanced to the semifinals at Casablanca, where, before his match with Gilles Simon, he sustained the knee injury that kept him sidelined through the summer.
• The 21-year-old Djokovic was appearing in his 16th ATP singles final (10-6 record) and was looking to capture his fourth title of the season, and first since May.
• The Belgrade native stands at 58-14 for the season, highlighted by winning his maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, and two ATP Masters Series shields at Indian Wells (d. Fish) and Rome (d. Wawrinka). He was also a finalist at Queen’s (l. to Nadal) and AMS Cincinnati (l. to Murray).
• The recent US Open semifinalist and Olympic Games bronze medalist has already secured his place at the Tennis Masters Cup for the second straight year, along with Nadal, Federer and Andy Murray.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

Tsonga: “I feel great, it’s got to be one of the best moments of my life. I just played unbelievable tennis against Novak and it was just my dream so I’m really happy."

"[It came down to] maybe a couple of points. The last game was very hard and I was just saying in my head “Go On! Do It!” so it was incredible. I was not nervous (about the match), I was just a little bit nervous about Novak because he has played just unbelievably and, for me, it’s difficult to play against him because I have a really good serve and I think one of the best parts of his game is the return."

Djokovic: “I lost the final against a great player. Jo wisely used his opportunities and deserved to win his first title. I played a bit too defensively today in the final. You have to use your opportunities and I didn’t. It’s unfortunate to lose in the final but I lost to a great player so I have no regrets. Congratulations to Jo and his team on his first ATP title. I’m sure we’ll see a lot of him in the future.”

“Reaching the final is a great result for me, especially considering the difficult period I had with the tough Davis Cup match after the US Open. I haven’t won a tournament since Rome but I’m not that disappointed since I have played consistently at the major events. I will now work on my endurance and strength and am aiming for good results during the indoor season. There are several important events coming up.

[About his bleeding eyebrow in the middle of the first set]: “I was watching Jo before the match and was scared that he was going to punch me but obviously I did it myself with my racquet... It looked a little funny but that can happen in sports.”

DOUBLES – TOP SEEDS DLOUHY/PAES WIN FIRST TEAM TITLE

·         Top seeds Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes combined to win their first team ATP title with a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Americans Scott Lipsky and David Martin on Sunday.

·         The Czech-Indian duo fired five aces, won 74% of points on serve and converted two of four break points to secure the victory in 1 hr., 16 min.

·         Individually, the 35-year-old Paes has now won 40 ATP doubles titles, while Dlouhy, 10 years his junior, has compiled five. It is the second title in Bangkok for Paes, who also triumphed in 2005 with Paul Hanley (d. Erlich-Ram).

·         Currently No. 6 in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race, Dlouhy and Paes joined forces for the first time at Roland Garros in May and have since reached the finals at Halle (l. to Youzhny-Zverev) and the US Open (l. to Bryan-Bryan) and made a semifinal exit at Wimbledon (l. to Nestor-Zimonjic). They improve to a 21-6 record.

·         Lipsky-Martin were chasing their second title of the season from a fourth final. The California residents captured the title at San Jose (d. Bryan-Bryan) and finished runners-up at Munich (l. to Berrer-Schuettler) and Indianapolis (l. to Fisher-Phillips).

[On winning 40 titles]: "It is special and I think that one of the things I like to do is see my partner win a lot more. This is the challenge for me because I know if he’s winning I’m winning too. I’m trying to step up Lukas, this is the fifth one that he’s won, so now I’m trying to step up his wins because then mine will go up automatically." courtesy ATP media