(REUTERS)-Roger Federer narrowly avoided another Jo-Wilfried Tsonga ambush in London yesterday he began the defence of his ATP World Tour Finals title with a 6-2 2-6 6-4 victory as round-robin action began at the season-ending showpiece. The Swiss endured one of the most painful losses of his year at Wimbledon in June when Tsonga blasted back from two sets down in their quarter-final and a repeat looked a distinct possibility in front of a 17,500 full house at the O2 Arena.
Federer, bidding for a record sixth title at the tournament, looked on course for a quick-fire victory when he ripped through the opening set in 21 minutes but he lost his way early in the second and the outcome was in the balance until Tsonga wavered in the final game of an entertaining opener.
“It’s not always in your control when you play Jo,” world number four Federer, who had former France soccer international Thierry Henry in his support box, told reporters. “Today I had flashes of that (Wimbledon) match because I didn’t have much chance for a while on his serve.
“Once he got the upper hand in the second set he started to swing more freely and got really dangerous. I just tried to stay calm and wait for my chance.
“We saw some ups and downs from both players, that’s why I’m pretty happy to come through.”
Despite ending the year without a grand slam title for the first time since 2002 and his lowest ranking since 2003, Federer arrived in London tipped as favourite after winning back-to-back indoor titles in Basel and Paris.
The way he began against Tsonga did nothing to suggest otherwise, although he was helped by his opponent’s errors.
Tsonga played a horrible fourth game to drop serve to love and hand Federer control and when the Swiss won 12 points in a row to take the opening set and move ahead in the second, fans in the darkened arena would have begun to feel a little short-changed at the one-sidedness of the match.
Luckily, a real contest developed, courtesy of two forehand errors by Federer which gifted his opponent an unlikely service break and an unexpected way back into a match that had been racing away from him at a rate of knots.
From then on Tsonga started swinging freely and he produced some scintillating strokes to move 5-2 ahead before levelling the match with a confident service hold.
Federer kept his nose in front in a tense decider and it was no surprise when the enigmatic Tsonga cracked first.
Serving at 4-5 the Frenchman, who was knocked out in the group stage on his only previous appearance in the tournament in 2008, fluffed a routine volley, then served a double fault to give Federer the opportunity he had been waiting for.
Federer then whipped a forehand winner down the line which drew applause from great rival Rafa Nadal who had sneaked in to catch the last few games sitting at courtside.
Tsonga saved one match point with a hefty first serve but could do nothing on the next as Federer’s miss-hit return spun awkwardly over the net, forcing his opponent into no-man’s land and allowing the Swiss to roll a backhand into an open court.
“In the first set I didn’t put one ball in court,” Tsonga, beaten by Federer in the Paris Masters final, told reporters. “I think he was a bit surprised because I played so badly in the first set, then I played correctly.
“I’m just disappointed because I didn’t play like that the whole match.”
Later on the opening day Nadal takes on debutant Mardy Fish of the United States, also in Group B.