Jo-Wilfried Tsonga shook off jet lag to defeat 37-year-old Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4 on Wednesday to reach the Austria Open second round and keep his World Tour Finals hopes alive.
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French star Tsonga only arrived in Vienna on Tuesday night after losing the Shanghai Masters final against Novak Djokovic on Sunday.
He overcame 32 unforced errors, counter-balanced by 41 winners and five breaks of serve, to deny Haas, playing on a 466th ranking after coming back from a third shoulder surgery.
Tsonga, seeded fourth, is in the mix for one of two remaining places in the eight-man field at the World Tour Finals in London from November 15.
He stands provisional ninth with Vienna top seed David Ferrer holding eighth behind Japan’s Kei Nishikori.
.@tsonga7 is Mover of the Week in the Emirates #ATP Race To London. Read Update: http://t.co/7KmCzWNQlJ #tennis pic.twitter.com/yNgGYfRg47
— ATP World Tour (@ATPWorldTour) October 19, 2015
Haas said that he is already looking ahead to 2016 when he will be playing for at least the first half of the season with a protected ranking due to his injury comeback. But his defeat by Tsonga still stung.
“How can you be happy when you lose? It’s never a good feeling. But I’m pleased that I’m still playing good tennis. I have a lot of work to do though,” said the former world number two.
Unpredictable Latvian Ernests Gulbis out-aced John Isner 23 to 16 in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 knockout of the American third seed to reach the quarter finals.
The defeat meant that Isner’s already slim chances of qualifying for the eight-man field in London took a major hit as the provisional 12th-placed candidate was beaten.
Gulbis, who has ridden a ranking roller-coaster in his patchy career, currently stands at a humble 117th in the world.
The Latvian son of a millionaire businessman improved to 3-2 over Isner, who had won their last two meetings. Gulbis went up an early break in the final set and held the edge until the end.
In a first round match, Italy’s eighth seed Fabio Fognini defeated Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
