Federer falls to Tsonga

Keystone

Roger Federer suffered a dramatic upset at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament in Montreal on Friday, when he fell to France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-7 (3).

“It’s disappointing but that’s what Jo does – he doesn’t make a return for an hour and then he puts in a few and then all of a sudden he’s back in the match,” first-seed Federer said. “I should never have allowed it but it happened, so it’s a pity.”

Tsonga said he had felt trapped during the second set of the quarterfinal, when Federer was playing well and leading 5-1.

“I had no solutions,” said Tsonga, seeded seventh. “I just told myself, ‘You have to hit the ball one more time than him,’ and I did it.”

Federer rival Rafael Nadal, the defending champion of the hard-court contest, was also eliminated. The Spaniard fell to Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina 6-7 (5), 1-6.

Del Potro, seeded sixth, now faces fifth-seed Andy Roddick. Tsonga will square off against Andy Murray, the tournament’s third seed. The players are competing for $3 million in prize money.

swissinfo.ch and agencies