Jo-Wilfried Tsonga used a protected ranking to play in Brisbane and it’s a good thing he did, as the Frenchman now finds himself in the semifinals against Daniil Medvedev. Kei Nishikori and Jeremy Chardy are also in action.
(PR) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (4) Daniil Medvedev
A couple of comeback stories are off an running in 2019 (Tomas Berdych, for example, currently finds himself in the Doha title match), and Tsonga’s is one of the most encouraging. The oft-injured Frenchman was sidelined for most of 2018, compiling a modest 5-7 record while plunging to No. 239 in the world. Finally armed with a clean bill of health, Tsonga did not drop a set en route to the Brisbane International semifinals–beating Thanasi Kokkinakis, Taro Daniel, and Alex de Minaur along the way.
Up next for the 33-year-old on Saturday is a second career contest against Medvedev, who lost their only previous encounter 6-2, 7-5 on the indoor hard courts of Montpellier in 2017. Fast forward two years and the Russian is a much different player now, up to 16th in the rankings thanks in part to an impressive three titles last season. Maintaining momentum through the offseason, Medvedev has advanced this week with defeats of Andy Murray and Milos Raonic. It will be a positive stay in Brisbane for Tsonga no matter what, but Medvedev is looking too rock-solid right now.
Pick: Medvedev in 3
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Jeremy Chardy vs. (2) Kei Nishikori
Nishikori and Chardy will be squaring off for the ninth time in their careers on Saturday. The head-to-head series stands at 6-2 in favor of Nishikori, who is 4-0 in this matchup on hard courts has won five in a row at Chardy’s expense overall dating back to 2014. They most recently faced each other at a pair of Grand Slams in 2017, with the Japanese world No. 9 getting the job done in straight sets at the Australian Open and French Open.
Coming off another appearance in the Nitto ATP Finals, Nishikori is off to a strong start this year with Brisbane victories over Denis Kudla and Grigor Dimitrov. Whereas the second seed has not yet dropped a set, Chardy has gone the distance against Jan-Lennard Struff, Nick Kyrgios, and Yasutaka Uchiyama–the latter in a third-set tiebreaker. All sings point to Nishikori cruising through this one without too much trouble.
Pick: Nishikori in 2
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WWW?
Tsonga wins in 3.
Tsonga was on his mojo vs Minaur, and he looked super motivated. He will do everything he can to beat Medvedev. Raonic had his chances vs Medvedev, but made too many errors, Tsonga wont.
Grats to Tsonga! Good luck for the semi. Medvedev is the Last Young Hope standing this week.
In Pune it’s Anderson v Karlovic, the Battle of the Ancients, so to speak.
In Doha it’s RBA (!) v Berdych !!
In Hopman Cup it’s the Swiss (Fed/Bencic) v Germany (AZ/Kerber).
So far this year is more like Return of the Aged than March of Youth.
Tsonga would need a bigger effort than Medvedev to win this .Medvedev in three .