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1/7/12 6:25 PM | Ricky Dimon
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga comes back from a 5-3 deficit in the first set to beat Gael Monfils in straights on Saturday in Doha. Tsonga captures his eighth career ATP title.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is picking up in 2012 right where he left off 2011.
Tsonga, who won two titles last fall and finished runner-up to Roger Federer in Paris and at the World Tour Finals, has opened this season with a title at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The world No. 6 got the best of an all-French showdown with Gael Monfils on Saturday night, erasing a first-set deficit before prevailing 7-5, 6-3.
Monfils, though, was coming off consecutive dominant performances against Viktor Troicki and Rafael Nadal and he maintained that form early in this one. Doha's No. 4 seed broke serve in the opening game of the match, in part because Tsonga seemed distracted by condensation at the back of the court. Play was subsequently stopped for 30 minutes after one point of the second game to let the court dry.
Upon resumption of play, Monfils managed to consolidate the lead en route to 5-3 without too much trouble. Serving for the set at 5-4, however, the world No. 16 tightened up and looked nothing like the player that had previously been on display. Tsonga broke easily to stay alive then won the next two games with ease to steal the opening frame of play out of nowhere.
With momentum in hand, Tsonga continued to apply pressure throughout the second with big serving and huge groundstrokes. The third seed broke immediately and never came close to giving it back. In fact, Tsonga dropped a mere four points in five service during set three as he closed out the proceedings in style.
"I played good at the beginning but Gael was incredible," the winner said. "He was everywhere.... I played well. I made him move a lot. I'm just really happy today to win."
Tsonga secured his eighth career ATP title after one hour and 57 minutes of play. He improved to 3-1 lifetime against Monfils, who fell to 4-12 in ATP finals.
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