By Chris Oddo | Friday February 8, 2019
The resurgence of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga picked up some steam on Friday at Montpellier, as the former World No.5 battled past Jeremy Chardy in three hard-fought sets, 6-7(6) 7-6(4) 6-4, to book his spot in the semi-finals.
It could have had a different, altogether more frustrating, ending.
Tsonga failed to convert his first 12 break points and Chardy was threatening to push the match to a third-set breaker, but Tsonga finally broke through in the tenth game of the final set when he converted his fourth match point (after Chardy saved three commandingly) to clinch victory in two hours and 44 minutes.
Tsonga has reached the semis at Montpellier four times now, including last season, but never progressed further.
Tsonga will face unseeded Radu Albot of Moldova in the semis, while Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Tomas Berdych will contest the bottom half semi-final.
Herbert slid past Denis Shapovalov 7-5, 7-6(4) to continue his fantastic season. The four-time doubles major champion has already clinched the career Grand Slam in that discipline in 2019, and he’s also climbed to a career-high singles ranking inside the Top 40 as a result of his triumph over the 19-year-old Canadian.
Despite a strong push from Shapovalov, Herbert was the better player from start to finish in the contest. Neither player faced a break point in the second set but Herbert stood tall in the breaker book his fifth career singles semi-final appearance and improve to 7-2 in singles on the season.
Berdych saved two match points to eke out victory over Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic. The Czech saved the pair of match points from 4-5 15-40 in the second set and took 14 of the final 18 points to close his comeback win.
Berdych, currently ranked 79, improved to 10-2 on the season. He reached his first final in over 19 months after missing the last half of 2018 with a back injury.