Before the start of the Brisbane International, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was rapidly back-pedalling from claims he now had the wood over his Australian Open conqueror, Novak Djokovic.
Now he won’t have to bother broaching the subject.
With the world number three Serbian shown the door by little-known Latvian Ernests Gulbis yesterday, 23-year-old Tsonga has moved into the box seat to clinch the inaugural title at Tennyson.
Tsonga, the world number eight and second seed, dispatched Agustin Calleri in straight sets 6-2 7-5 last night to progress to the second round, although the whippy Argentinean gave him a stern test in the second set after being blown off the court in the opener.
“I’m really happy to win today. The first match of the year – it’s a good start. Tomorrow I have another match and I hope I will win,” Tsonga said.
“It was difficult because I didn’t play any points for a long time. It was the first match for me and a good start.”
Tsonga set up the first set win with a sizzling forehand drive down the line before finding the going infinitely tougher as he tried to close out the match, withstanding an early break in his service game to eventually close his grip on Calleri’s throat.
Calleri responded in the second set but Tsonga absorbed some pressure-packed moments to finish the stronger of the pair, rebounding from 0-40 down when he lead 6-5 up to avoid the tiebreak.
The absence of Djokovic, who ended an unseeded Tsonga’s dream run in last year’s Australian Open with a four-set victory in the final, will cement Tsonga’s favouritism at the Brisbane tournament.
But the Frenchman said he wasn’t getting ahead of himself despite the departure of his most dangerous adversary.
“I don’t know for the moment. I’m very focused on my second round. But of course I am now more chance than Novak to win the tournament,” he said.
“For me it wasn’t really a surprise (Djokovic lost). Gulbis is the man who is going to be a surprise this year. Every match he is playing better and better.”
With the men’s top seed already having left the building, tournament organisers will pray Tsonga doesn’t follow in his footsteps given the sight of more empty seats at Pat Rafter Arena last night, with a crowd of just 2615 making the night session just under half full.
Tsonga has already signalled his intention to go one better in Melbourne and believes he has the ability to challenge men’s tour top guns Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the major tournaments.
Certainly his form in the opening set last night indicated he would be a force this summer. He withstood some of Calleri’s jolting forehands, returning them with astonishing power to leave the Argentine wondering where to turn.
Tsonga won’t have a great deal of time to reflect on his efforts. He is back in action today when he meets Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen in the afternoon session on Pat Rafter Arena.
Serbian glamour girl Ana Ivanovic headlines the evening session, where she plays Italy’s Roberta Vinci in the second round of the women’s singles.
French star Amelie Mauresmo begins proceedings on Pat Rafter Arena this morning when she faces countrywomen Julie Coin, before Djokovic-killer Ernests Gulbis backs up to tackle dangerous Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.