One of the most interesting men’s singles matches of the day at the French Open will see two veterans and former Australian Open finalists, sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marcos Baghdatis, face off in a second round clash. The two face off for the second major in a row, after a first round meeting in Melbourne earlier this year.
This match will be the third match of the day on Philippe Chatrier, and the winner will face 26th seed Joao Sousa or Ernests Gulbis in the third round.
So far in Paris
Neither Baghdatis or Tsonga stormed past their opening round opponents here, but both did win in straight sets and will be pretty confident coming into this.
Baghdatis started off against fellow veteran Gilles Muller. The latter is a big server and good volleyer, though Baghdatis was the stronger player overall and saw off Muller 7-5, 6-4, 6-1 with relative ease. The Cypriot will be hoping to bring a similar level to this match.
Tsonga started against Jan-Lennard Struff. The German can cause trouble on his day, though the Frenchman was the heavy favorite to win the match and, despite a few nervy moments, did so without losing his serve, recording a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win. Tsonga will be pretty happy with that win, and will look to build on that for this clash.
Analysis
One big advantage for Tsonga is that he is a better clay court player than Baghdatis and, as a French player who has gone far at the tournament, is much more used to conditions on Philippe Chatrier. Furthermore, he may have the bigger weapons of the two, though can be erratic on ‘off’ days and must look to be near his best against a talented and experience opponent. Also, the sixth seed should be looking to serve well against a decent returner, and must try to avoid bringing Baghdatis close to the net, as the Cypriot is a strong mover and could dictate play from here.
Baghdatis is playing solid tennis once again after injury troubles and has improved on clay, though is not as good on the surface as Tsonga and may not have the power to consistently match the Frenchman. To combat this, the Cypriot should look to serve well and try and dictate play early on, finishing points as soon as possible so Tsonga doesn’t have enough time to get into too many rallies. Baghdatis should also look to move into the net as much as possible, though is certainly a more streaky player than Tsonga is; Baghdatis cannot afford to make too many errors, as the sixth seed will probably take advantage.
Head to Head
Tsonga dominates the head to head 6-0, though some of their latest meetings have been quite close. Baghdatis pushed the Frenchman to four sets at the Australian Open earlier this year, and their meeting before that at the Miami Open in 2014 went to three sets.
Only their first ever meeting came on clay. Tsonga won 6-3, 6-2 in Rome back in 2011, though the fact that was five years ago suggests it will probably be irrelevant in terms of this match.
Assessment
Tsonga is certainly the heavy favorite for this match, and it seems likely that he will please his home crowd against Baghdatis tomorrow. The sixth seed should have too much for his fellow veteran, though this should be a fun match with lots of entertaining points and tight games.
Prediction: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in three sets