Tsonga restores pride by beating Djokovic

Shanghai:

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga restored some pride by coming back from a set down to beat world number three Novak Djokovic 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 in a dead rubber group match at the Masters Cup on Thursday.

The Frenchman had lost his first two matches at the $4.45 million season finale and looked on his way to a third defeat when Djokovic, who had already qualified as Gold Group winner, won the first set in 25 minutes.

Tsonga, who had beaten Djokovic to win his first title in Bangkok in September and again on his way to winning the Paris Masters, broke the 21-year-old Serbian to even the match up before prevailing in a third set as one-sided as the first.

Australian Open champion Djokovic, who beat Tsonga in the Melbourne Park final, will be joined in the semi-finals by the winner of the final Gold Group match between Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro later today.