World no.1 Novak Djokovic scored a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory over Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in his opening match at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London on Monday.
The second Group A match at The O2 Arena lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes.
This was the 14th career meeting between Djokovic and Tsonga, the Serbian top seed leads their head-to-heads 9-5.
“It is the last tournament of the year, so it was important for us both to start off well. I am happy with the result,” said Novak.
Tsonga had a break point in the opening game, but a fortunate net cord got Novak out of trouble, and the Frenchman couldn’t convert his second chance to break when he missed a forehand at 4-3. With neither man able to get control, a tie-break was the only way to separate them and it was Novak, showing his priceless knack of playing his best on the big points, who took it on his second set point.
Novak took the momentum into the second set. Tsonga produced a spectacular smash on the run to save one break point in the first game, but the Belgrade native wouldn’t be denied and landed the break when the Frenchman drove a forehand wildly off-target. He made another break in the ninth game and sealed the win for new 200 ATP points.
Novak’s next opponent in Group A on Wednesday will be Andy Murray.
The British no.1 beat Czech Tomas Berdych 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first Group A match. It will be the 17th encounter between Nole and Andy, with Djokovic leading 9-7.
“My next match, against Andy, is always a big challenge,” said the 2008 Tour Finals champion. “He had the lots of success in London, in front of his crowd. We know a lot about each other. I’m sure that we’re going to come up with some really good tennis.”
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