Tsonga Makes Triumphant Wimbledon Return; Spaniards Advance

Charismatic Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made a winning return in his first match for two years at The Championships.

Having missed the grass-court Grand Slam championship last year due to a knee injury, the ninth seed produced a battling performance – full of power and attacking serve-volley tennis – to defeat Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-6(5) in three hours and 21 minutes on Monday.

In just his fourth grass-court tour-level event the 24 year old evoked memories of his 2007 performance when, as a wild card entry, he blasted his way into the fourth round without dropping a set. Tsonga hit 15 aces and 50 winners past Wimbledon debutant Golubev, and won 30 of 44 points on approach to the net.

Tsonga improved to 33-10 on the 2009 ATP World Tour season, highlighted by two ATP World Tour titles at Johannesburg (d. Chardy) and Marseille (d. Llodra).

He will next challenge Italian Simone Bolelli, who overcame Daniel Koellerer of Austria 6-7(3), 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 in three hours and 55 minutes.

Two seeded Spaniards, No. 7 Fernando Verdasco and No. 15 Tommy Robredo, enjoyed wins in their first round matches against Grand Slam debutants. Verdasco needed just one hour and 30 minutes to get by British wild card James Ward 6-1, 6-3, 6-4, while Robredo overcame an opening challenge against Slovenian Luka Gregorc 7-6(4), 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(3) in three hours.

The 25-year-old Verdasco has reached the Wimbledon fourth round in two of the past three years, and came up just shy of a quarter-final spot in 2008 when he fell to Croatian Mario Ancic in a 13-11 fifth set. The Spaniard was a finalist last year at the grass-court ATP World Tour event in Nottingham (l. to Karlovic), but struggled with a 1-2 record on grass coming into the 2009 Championships.

Robredo’s grass-court campaign had also gotten off to a slow start when he lost to Marcos Baghdatis last week in his ‘s-Hertogenbosch opener. The 27 year old will be looking to match his best result at Wimbledon – a third round finish in 2003 (l. to Roddick) – when he faces Austrian Stefan Koubek, who battled to a 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 win over French qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin.