JAMES Ward’s unlikely challenge at Queen’s Club came to an end as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated the British number two 6-3, 7-6 to set up a meeting with British number one Andy Murray in today’s final. A solitary break from Tsonga was enough to secure the first set and despite having beaten reigning champion Sam Querrey and Frenchman Adrian Mannarino to reach the semi-final, Ward was unable to hold onto an early break in the second as he was defeated in a tie break.
The result ensures that Tsonga, who unexpectedly defeated Rafael Nadal in the semi-final yesterday, will face Murray in front of a partisan crowd in London for the honour of winning the pre-Wimbledon tournament.
Tsonga is ranked 19th in the world but has been as high as sixth, and it was hardly a surprise to see the Frenchman race into a 3-0 lead at the start of the first set.
Ward’s first service game was the decisive moment of the set as unforced errors from the British number two allowed Tsonga to capitalise and break. He did not look back when taking the first set 6-3.
But the Frenchman never looked entirely convincing, lacking anything like the fluidity that accompanied Murray’s earlier victory over Andy Roddick in the other semi-final.
A sloppy service game that included two double faults allowed Ward to break and take a 3-0 lead at the start of the second set, but as Tsonga’s serve clicked and the points dried up, the pressure was back on the Englishman and he failed to hold as his opponent brought it back to 4-4.
Ward, who is expected to move into 176th in the rankings despite this defeat, took an early mini-break in the second set tie-break and then saved a match point, but a wide backhand gave Tsonga the victory.
“It’s obviously been a fantastic week for me – my best so far,” Ward said. “I just hope to build on it from here on. I will take that now into Eastbourne next week. Today was a great match and I just missed out, but it’s onwards and upwards from here.”