By Erik Gudris | Sunday, July 3, 2016
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga found a way to defeat John Isner in an extra long final set to reach the Wimbledon fourth round.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
It must have felt like deja vu for John Isner who found himself again in an unexpected extended battle against a French player at Wimbledon. But this time, the American finds himself on the losing end of yet another marathon match.
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France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga instead now enters the fourth round after earning a come from behind win that included saving a match point.
Isner led the 12th seeded Tsonga two sets to one on Saturday before their match was suspended due to fading light. When they returned to Court No. 2, Tsonga claimed the fourth set to force a decider.
That resulted in a fifth set that went the distance and then some. When the match entered extra games knotted at 6-all, fans immediately started flashing back to a similar match in 2010.
Six years ago Isner, over the course of three days, defeated France’s Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the final set. That match ended up being the longest match ever in tennis history.
“A little bit. A little bit,” Tsonga said when asked if he thought the match would end up being like that famous one. “For me, the time I would spend on court, it's not the most important. The most important today was to win and continue. Yeah, I was focused on the game and not really on the other things. But to be honest, yeah, once, I said, Maybe it's going to be long like Nicolas.”
With Tsonga unable to break the big-serving American, it looked like Isner might prevail again when the match reached 12-all.
At 16-all, Tsonga saved a match point on his serve. Eventually the Frenchman edged ahead 18-17 when he broke Isner forced a forehand wide.
Tsonga didn’t waste time serving out the match over a weary-looking Isner to seal the comeback 6-7 (3) 3-6 7-6 (5) 6-2 19-17 after four hours and 24 minutes.
When asked if he thought about his marathon match against Mahut while playing today, Isner said. “No, I wasn't out there. He was serving very well, and, yeah, I know the match could go a long way, but I wasn't thinking about what happened six years ago. You know, I had a chance and he came up with a good serve. I had some chances yesterday, came up with good serves every time. That's why he's, you know, one of the best players in our game.”
The extended match resumed the debate on whether Wimbledon should introduce a fifth set tiebreak in its matches. A consideration since Tsonga will have to play tomorrow.
“You know, for me it's 50/50," Tsonga said. "Of course, for us it's good to finish it, because the winner will play another match and continue. Sometime it's better for the body. At the same time, it's good for the crowd and for the people around, for the story. Yeah, I don't know what to say. I don't know if I'm for it or against it. But, anyway, today it's like this and we will play. Yeah, probably what is difficult for us is to play the day after. For sure tomorrow I will play.”
Next up for Tsonga is fellow French Davis Cup teammate and No. 7 seed Richard Gasquet.