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Marseille SF: Tsonga def Kyrgios 7-6(5) 2-6 6-4

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#1 ·
Tsonga's knee was starting to falter in the 2nd set and I was fearing the worst, but he managed to serve good enough in the 3rd to stave Nick off.

Looks like there's a great deal of respect between each other (uh!? Thug respecting someone!? XD).
 
#2 ·
Kyrgios seems to lose all clutch matches in 2017. He only wins when he is clearly the better player and he starts to win as easy and fast as anybody in early rounds, but having problems facing the first hard opponent.
Tsonga is very surprising on the other hand. I hope he doesn't play too much tennis now, he won Rotterdam last week and already is in another final, very well done.
 
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#8 ·
Tsonga returned well for a good percentage of the match and if you keep the pressure, Nick's 1st serve percentage goes down and you can take your chances.

Yeah, Tsonga is already stretching it a bit. I noticed his serve has been declining in this tournament which wasn't the case in Rotterdam. Nevertheless, it seems the less bending of the knees during the serve motion is starting to have some results. Before that change, it couldn't hold properly more than 2 matches in consecutive days.
 
#10 ·
Bye Thug, see you on the slow courts in Acapulco. :wavey:

I'n no Tsonga fan, but this was an outstanding victory for both, tennis and humanity. Kyrgios isn't just a terrible servebot, he's also pushing, waiting for his opponents to miss and shamelessly celebrating their errors. Truly one of the most unwatchable players on tour.

JoWilly should take the titel now, I don't see Pouille or Mr. 250 beating him here.
 
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#15 ·
Very good performance by Tsonga, his backhand was surprisingly sharp. Kyrgios wasn't at his best but not bad at all. He sort of seems to have lost a bit of the clutchness he was associated with at the start of his career. Was serving for the first set but played a shitty game, then lost the tiebreak due to giving away a single minibreak with a forehand UE. Also his backhand wasn't doing him any favours.

As someone in the live commentary pointed out he seems to be taking more time between the points nowadays. Not sure why, always thought his fast serving play was one of his strengths. Giving him momentum and such.
 
#17 ·
As someone in the live commentary pointed out he seems to be taking more time between the points nowadays. Not sure why, always thought his fast serving play was one of his strengths. Giving him momentum and such.
He was taking a lot of time in the 1st set even between 1st and 2nd serve, it was annoying as hell. I wondered if he was trying to break Tsonga's momentum on purpose. He doesn't take time to get to the line, but he was wasting a lot of time bouncing the ball Djokovicesque and taking more time in the swing. But from the 2nd set onwards he started to serve faster.
 
#19 ·
It's really annoying the lack of criteria the umpires have regarding to the challenges.

The umpire didn't allow a right away challenge by Kyrgios on a missed return on BP, he challenged under a second, I couldn't believe he didn't allow that. Meanwhile, some umpires let the players check the marks, look for their coaches, look the mark again and challenge after 10 seconds. :facepalm:
 
#22 · (Edited)
I think the Umpire thought he was challenging Tsonga's serve while he was actually challenging his own return. Nevertheless, I think Nick should have been able to challenge either of the shots. I'm completely against not allowing late challengings (which in this case wasn't).

Ended up not knowing if Kyrgios return was out or not. I was doing other stuff at the time and not looking at the screen constantly but I think I heard the commie talking about the hawkeye showing it for TV but didn't get if it was in or out.

Fortunately, Kyrgios got the break anyway. Don't like to see my faves winning because of bad umpiring.

He is pregnant and due pretty soon. I don't think he's the kind of person who prioritizes Indiana Wells before the birth of his child. Perhaps the natural nervosity involved with a first child allows him to be in more of a zen mode on court?
Perhaps, but I think the main reason behind his success was the change in the service motion which exerts less tension on his left knee. If he hadn't picked up the knee injury in 2013 I think he would have had a lot of success in this weak era. Wimby'13 would probably have been his, for starters.
 
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#20 ·
It takes quite a mental effort by Tsonga to keep himself focused during the match particularly in the 1st Set. As usual, Kyrgios was serving unreturnables, and Tsonga had to keep himself in check on serves, which he did until late in the Set. He did however got a break back, and I actually thought Kyrgios would've lost the Set 5-7 after that, and have a bit of implosion at the 2nd Set, which thankfully for him he didn't and was just a bit unclutch in the TB. 2nd Set was still tight and Kyrgios I think had openings and was able to capitalize while Tsonga doesn't seem to be focused that 2nd Set. Good recovery though from Tsonga and still kept pressure on Kyrgios who gained some confidence back after an easy 2nd Set and made some good returns that able him to get that needed break on the 3rd Set. There was this one great point where Kyrgios made a good net volley but Tsonga was able to counter it quickly with a slice winner. Tsonga seemingly is having an excellent start of the year and should be interesting what does it mean for his confidence in the following weeks.
 
#21 ·
Tsonga seemingly is having an excellent start of the year and should be interesting what does it mean for his confidence in the following weeks.
He is pregnant and due pretty soon. I don't think he's the kind of person who prioritizes Indiana Wells before the birth of his child. Perhaps the natural nervosity involved with a first child allows him to be in more of a zen mode on court?
 
#24 ·
I think Tsonga returns to top 8 with this win, congrats on the superb start of the year. :yeah: Was always going to be a close match, only watched the first set but result isn't too surprising,
 
#28 ·
Nick could have had it in 2 if he didn't lose focus immediately after breaking in the first, would bum him having saved a 0-40 earlier! Couldn't catch the rest but seems to have been a competitive affair. Back to back finals (or maybe titles) is great for Tsonga.
 
#32 ·
Better player lost.
 
#39 ·
Not the best of perforamnces from Kyrgios. He was serving decent but wasn't able to dictate from the baseline other than maybe in the 2nd set. Still not bad reaching the SF's though. Average week but at least he seemed mentally fresh.
 
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