Australia’s Alex de Minaur was looking to go one better at the Brisbane International where he reached the semis in 2018. In his way was France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a former top-ten player on his way back from an injury layoff in 2018 that followed knee surgery.
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Photo: BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 04: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in action against Alex De Minaur of Australia during day six of the 2019 Brisbane International at Pat Rafter Arena on January 4, 2019 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by TPN/Getty Images)
Tsonga, currently ranked at no. 239 got off to a great start as he secured an early break, only to concede that break in the fourth game to see de Minaur level the score at 2-2.
After escaping in round one against Thanasi Kokkinakis, Tsonga has been gaining confidence and is playing more like the player that made the 2008 Australian Open final.
The big Frenchman fought off break points on his next service game before lifting in the ninth game as he hit big winners from both wings to secure a crucial break before serving out the first set.
As is typical of de Minaur he chased every ball in the second set but Tsonga was too strong. de Minaur came close to getting a break in the sixth game as he secured three break points. The match then went into a tiebreaker in which Tsonga cruised to victory.
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Photo: BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 04: Alex De Minaur of Australia in action against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France during day six of the 2019 Brisbane International at Pat Rafter Arena on January 4, 2019 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by TPN/Getty Images)
Tsonga advance with a 6-4, 7-6(2) victory to setup a Saturday night semifinal match against 22-year-old Russian Daniil Medvedev while Jeremy Chardy plays Kei Nishikori for a spot in the final earlier in the day.
“I played a great match; I expected something like this before the match because I saw him play a few times,” Tsonga said.
“He’s a very good player. We have completely different games; it was good tennis.
“I’m just really happy with the way I played and I hope I will do better in the next round again.”
Tomljanovic loses a topsy-turvy match against Pliskova
Australia’s world no. 46 Ajla Tomljanovic looked like facing a quick quarterfinal exit after losing the first set of her match against the no. 5 seed Karolina Pliskova 6-1. As often can happen in tennis the tables were turned and the Australian came storming back in the second set and was ahead 5-0 before Pliskova finally held serve. The set was closed out 6-1.
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Photo: BRISBANE: Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia hits a return against Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova during their women’s singles quarter-final match at the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane on January 4, 2019. (Photo credit SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)
In the deciding set is was again one-sided, this time Pliskova dominated to take the match 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 in just 84 minutes. Pliskova will meet Croatia’s Donna Vekic in a Saturday night semifinal.
