Jo-Wilfred Tsonga’s chase for his first Grand Slam continues this month, as he participates in the 2016 French Open. Tsonga opens up his campaign with a showdown with German youngster Jan-Lennard Struff. Read on for more about this matchup. You can also check out our breakdown of Novak Djokovic vs. Yen-Hsun Lu.
It’s not going to be a walk in a park right from the get-go for Jan-Lennard Struff. Struff is going to face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in round one and he’s going to need all the luck he can get to advance to the next round. That said , it won’t be a breeze for Tsonga either, as Struff has given the Frenchman some headaches in the past.
Struff hasn’t won in two career matches against Tsonga, but avoided losing in blowout fashion in both. Take for example Struff’s 6-4 6-4 loss to Tsonga in last year’s Monte Carlo Masters. The other matchup was a 7-6(4) 7-5 in Marseille in 2014. In Monte Carlo, Struff’s serve game was on point with a 71% (39 of 55) success rate. Struff recorded four double faults though.
Struff is coming off a finals appearance in the Necarkcup in Germany. He has an 8-20 career record on clay courts.
Betting on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Tsonga’s biggest nightmare right now is losing right in the first round of the French Open. That’s unlikely to happen though, considering his rank and the quality of his opponent.
Ranked seventh in the world, Tsonga will march into Roland Garros on the heels of a withdrawal from the recent Rome Masters. Tsonga was forced to exit the tournament after injuring his thigh muscle in a practice session. His injury didn’t seem too serious, however, and his pull out from the tournament was likely more of a precautionary step with the more prestigious French Open on the horizon.
Assuming his healthy, Tsonga should be met with decent to little resistance from Struff in the first round.
Tsonga had regularly broken Struff’s serves in their past meetings. He did that twice in Marseilles and in Monte Carlo.
Tsonga has a 75-42 record in ATP World Tour and Grand Slam clay court matches.
