In arguably the most bizarre match at the Sony Open Tennis tournament, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga kicked off Sunday’s third-round action on the Grandstand with a come-from-behind 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-5 win over Marcos Baghdatis. Tsonga was coming off a bad loss in Indian Wells to fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau and Baghdatis has been in horrendous form for several years now. The result was a contest low on quality but high on entertainment.
Baghdatis constantly told the crowd to get up, at one point even making that gesture after losing a point. His play was by no means spectacular, but his energy dwarfed that of Tsonga. Not until the Cypriot led by a set and 5-1 in the second-set tiebreaker did Tsonga finally wake up. Baghdatis was two points from the match on six different occasions but never got to match point. Tsonga won five points in a row then double-faulted at 6-5 in the ‘breaker before Baghdatis double-faulted down set point at 6-7. Baghdatis had almost all of the chances to break in the third, but Tsonga played his best at the big moments and the match was eventually decided when the favorite broke at 5-5.
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The rest of the afternoon featured much more straightforward matches. Clinical performances were turned in by Tommy Robredo, Richard Gasquet, and Roger Federer. Robredo beat Benneteau 6-3, 6-4, Gasquet downed Kevin Anderson by the same score, and Federer took care of Thiemo De Bakker 6-3, 6-3. Federer lost only seven points in nine service games and did not face a single break point.
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Practice courts included Grigor Dimitrov and Denis Istomin. It did not help either one, as Dimitrov lost later today in two tight sets to Kei Nishikori and Istomin eventually managed only a single game against Rafael Nadal on Monday night.
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