Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Books His Place in the Shanghai Masters Cup

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has provided the first French victory at the Paris Masters event in seven years.

The 23-year-old from Le Mans, who burst onto the world stage in January by reaching the Australian Open final, defeated defending champion David Nalbandian, from Argentina, 6-3 4-6 6-4 on the back of an outstanding service game that produced 25 aces.

The win ensured Tsonga grabbed the last of the eight slots for the season-closing Masters Cup and left Nalbandian to concentrate on the Davis Cup final against Spain in Mar del Plata.

“This comes at the end of a season that has been so full of good things for me and the cherry on the cake is that I am going to Shanghai instead of just watching it on the television,” he said.

Tsonga reached the final by defeating three top tenners in Novak Djokovic, to whom he lost in the Australian Open final, Andy Roddick, in a three-set thriller, and James Blake in a semi-final blow out.