Novak Djokovic has fought back from 2-1 down against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to force a fifth set in their French Open quarterfinal. Tsonga played poorly in the first set and looked unable to challenge Djokovic, but rallied back to win the next two sets. Djokovic didn’t look all the way back to his old self in the fourth set, but fought off four match points and eventually won the set in a tiebreak. It’s 6-1, 5-7, 5-7, 7-6 after four sets.
French Open Scores: Novak Djokovic Saves Match Points, Forces 5th Set
With the set on serve and Tsonga up 5-4, he had two set points on Djokovic’s serve, but Djokovic fought both of them off and won the game. The same situation presented itself at 6-5, with Djokovic facing two match points on his serve again, but he fought off both of them again to force the tiebreak.
Throughout the match, Tsonga’s serve has gotten progressively stronger while Djokovic’s has gotten less effective. Tsonga has improved his winning percentage on his first serve in each successive set and his first serve percentage improved from the third set to the fourth. Djokovic has gone in the other direction, winning a lower percentage of his first serve points in each successive set. That trend was continuing into the tiebreak, until Djokovic turned things around at 4-3 in favor of Tsonga.
Up a mini-break, Tsonga missed his first serve twice in a row and Djokovic won both points, turning the tables and going up 5-4. Djokovic won his next service point, putting himself up 6-4 and creating two set points. Tsonga impressively fought off both of them to make it 6-6, but dropped the next two points to give Djokovic the 8-6 tiebreak win.
There’s a bit of drizzle at Roland Garros at the moment, but there hasn’t been enough rain to stop the match. In a bizarre decision, French Open officials decided not to clean off the lines on the court between sets out of fear that the lines would become too slippery for the match to continue.
You can see a full French Open scoreboard at SI.com.
For more updates on the 2012 French Open, please stay tuned to this StoryStream. For lots more on all things tennis, keep checking SB Nation’s dedicated tennis hub.
See More:
