After Roger Federer’s miraculous earlier escape act against Marin Cilic, when he recovered to win from two sets down (6-7 (4) 4-6 6-3 7-6 (9) 6-3), the 12th seeded Frenchman Tsonga threatened something equally improbable as dusk settled at the All England Club on Wednesday.
Advertisement
Tsonga’s epic win over Isner lasted two days but the Frenchman was not taxed in his fourth-round match, with countryman Richard Gasquet forced to retire because of a back injury in only the seventh game.
“It was a tough match”. It would have been easy to have gotten very down on myself in that fifth set after the way the fourth set ended.
“I fought, I tried, I believed”, Murray said afterwards.
“I think [Murray] also went through some changes or, yeah, different styles when he’s playing”.
Tsonga, who has reached his 13th Grand Slam quarter-final in search of his first title, joked: “The one time that Novak Djokovic goes out early, he is not in my section of the draw!” He came up with some great shots. This match is Murray’s to lose, but expect him to make it out as the victor. “We really focused on not passing up any opportunities to come forward, to always keep the pressure on my opponents, keep them guessing, making them feel uncomfortable…”
If he needed a jolt to get himself ready for a potential final against seven-time champion Federer – and he talked before the match about the benefits of an adrenaline charge – then this was a valuable outing.
He referred to the three and a quarter hour fest between Federer and Marin Cilic, but it will be the No10 seed, Tomas Berdych, a runner-up at Wimbledon in 2010, who Murray faces in the semis.
Great Britain Davis Cup captain Leon Smith, who yesterday included Murray in his squad to face Serbia in Belgrade next week, can’t recall his fellow Scot playing better.
World number 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is probably one of the most talented players on the ATP Tour circuit but what lets him down is his inconsistency.
That record came under serious scrutiny in the opening set.
Murray did play well at the end, with a little help from the crowd.
Pouille had never won a grass court match before this year’s Wimbledon.
Tsonga wins just 26 per cent of first-serve return points, down six per cent on his clay numbers, while on the second serve he wins 45 per cent compared to 48 per cent on clay.
After forcing a deciding fifth set at SW19, Tsonga seemingly ran out of steam, gifting Murray a double-break lead as he netted a forehand.
“Missed a ball that was nearly inside the service box”, Murray said.
The tears that he was struggling to hold back showed that he does care, and he added: “At times, like I’ve previously said, I don’t love the sport”.
The two Czechs were locked at two sets apiece with Vesely having saved five match points when their last-16 tie was halted Monday.
Advertisement
He took the first step towards keeping that promise by breaking the Tsonga serve in the second game, letting out a huge roar, which was matched by the crowd.
