Tsonga joins exodus

JO-WILFRIED TSONGA joined the exodus of seeds at the Aegon Championships after being outplayed by Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller at a boiling hot Queen’s Club yesterday.

The Frenchman, seeded five, had no answer to lefthander Muller’s swinging serve as he bowed out 6-4, 6-4.

Top seed and five-times champion Andy Murray, French Open runner-up Stan Wawrinka and 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic suffered surprise defeats on Tuesday.

Former champion Grigor Dimitrov was also in trouble when he lost the first set to French veteran Julien Benneteau but the sixth seed recovered to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in one of the best matches of the tournament.

Tomas Berdych was also given a testing workout against Canadian tyro Denis Shapovalov, who pushed the former Wimbledon finalist all the way before succumbing 76(4), 6-7(4), 7-5.

With on-court temperatures nudging 40 degrees Celsius, Tsonga looked as listless as the sweltering crowd as Muller dominated behind his serve to claim his second title of the year, having never won one before.

He needed one break in each set to subdue former runner-up Tsonga and will face either Murray’s conqueror Jordan Thompson of Australia or American Sam Querrey in the quarterfinals.

“It’s working well for me at the moment,” Muller, who saved all three break points he faced, said. “My serve is working great and it’s good at this time of the year on the grass.”

American Donald Young also progressed, beating Serbia’s Viktor Troicki in straight sets. – Reuters