France’s very own Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is still alive and well in the 2016 French Open, but his heart doesn’t seem too invested in the tournament just yet. Perhaps a relatively tougher opponent on tap will get his competitive blood flowing again this Thursday for the second round of play at Roland Garros.
Will Tsonga advance to the next round with more swagger this time around, or will Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus shock the partisan Parisian crowd? Let’s find out more about this intriguing match below. And for a couple more men’s singles coverage for Thursday’s slate, check out our previews for Djokovic vs. Darcis and Nadal vs. Bagnis right after this.
Although Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga garnered a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 straight-sets victory over Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round of the 2016 French Open on Tuesday, he appeared to lack the urgency to actually excel in his match.
Could it have been because he had already defeated the German Struff two times over and had yet to suffer a loss to him before Tuesday’s contest? Whatever the reason is, Tsonga needs to perform with much more energy and enthusiasm in the second round so he can win back his hometown fans’ full confidence at Roland Garros.
Thankfully, the 31-year-old righty’s statistics in that first-round match didn’t reflect his lackadaisical mood. Tsonga still won the aces battle over Struff easily, 8-2, and converted half of his eight break-point opportunities as well.
On Thursday, Tsonga will face another player that he has dominated for about five years in Marcos Baghdatis. The Le Mans-born standout is a perfect 6-0 against Baghdatis in ATP World Tour play, including his latest victory from the first round of this year’s Australian Open. As long as Tsonga picks up his intensity for this upcoming match, his victory is almost inevitable.
Betting on Marcos Baghdatis
World No. 39 Marco Baghdatis wasn’t handed any favors in the first round of the French Open when he was immediately paired up with World No. 42 Gilles Muller. Nevertheless, Baghdatis emerged victorious over Muller on Tuesday (7-5, 6-4, 6-1) to set up a date against Tsonga in the second round.
The Cypriot righty took full advantage of the sloppy play by his opponent from Luxembourg, who committed 12 double faults compared to just one by Baghdatis himself. However, Baghdatis is still clearly finding it hard to keep up with hard-serving competition, as Muller still had a 10-7 edge in aces on Tuesday.
That can’t be good for the Limassol native, who will take on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the second time in a Grand Slam tournament this year. In the aforementioned loss to Tsonga at the Aussie Open, Baghdatis was once again trumped in the race for aces, 13-5. And that’s already considering that the Frenchman committed a whopping 42 unforced errors in the contest.
Although Baghdatis hung in rather well with Tsonga Down Under by taking him to four sets, his head-to-head record against him still sticks out like a sore thumb. The only time that he won over Tsonga in seven career meetings was in 2004, and at an ATP Challenger event at that all the less.
Not even the French Open in general has been kind to Baghdatis, as he hasn’t advanced past the second round of Roland Garros over his last four trips. That being said, don’t count on Cyprus’ best tennis player to upset seventh-ranked Tsonga this Thursday.
Writer’s Prediction
Tsonga (-700) with a much more spirited effort and win this time around after dropping bombs over Baghdatis in straight sets.
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