(Match Report) Tsonga powers into semi-final - 法網 Tennis

Tsonga powers into semi-final
Tuesday, 22 January, 2008
By Brandon Cohen
http://www.australianopen.com/

Unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has continued his giant-killing
run through the Australian Open after seeing off 14th seed Mikhail
Youzhny in straight sets to advance to his first Grand Slam semi-final.

Tsonga was at his athletic best throughout the two-hour encounter, not
allowing the Russian any room to move as he closed out the match 7-5 6-0
7-6 (8-6).

"It's just unbelievable. It's amazing, I don't know what to say," Tsonga
said afterwards.

The 22-year-old from Le Mans has been the surprise packet of the tournament,
shocking highly-fancied Andy Murray in the first round. Wins over Sam Warburg
and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez were next before another masterful performance
against eighth-seeded countryman Richard Gasquet in the round of 16.

If Tsonga had any nerves against the experienced Youzhny he didn't show it,
breaking in the 11th game before serving out the set.

Tsonga then raced through the second set to love in just 29 minutes, winning
26 points to nine as the Russian had no answers to the Frenchman's power and
finesse.

Youzhny clawed his way back in the third set, taking it to a tie-breaker.

The 25-year-old had a chance to take the match into a fourth set when he held
a set point at 6-5 in the tie-breaker but was unable to convert.

Tsonga then brought up a match point with a big first serve before closing it
out to send the Rod Laver Arena crowd into raptures.

He will now face No.2 seed Rafael Nadal in a dream semi-final on Thursday.

Rod Laver Arena - Men's Singles - Quarterfinals
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA Winner 7 6 7(8)
Mikhail Youzhny RUS (14) 5 0 6(6)

Match Facts
- Tsonga served eight aces to Youzhny's zero
- The unforced errors were even, Youzhny making 33 and Tsonga 32
- The Frenchman won a massive 89 per cent of his first serves
- Tsonga broke Youzhny four times and never faced a break point himself
- Tsonga's fastest serve was 216 kph

--