Tsonga wins BNP Paribas Masters in Paris; earns final Masters Cup Shanghai spot

Thirteenth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (pictured) captured the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris on Sunday in front of a pleased hometown crowd by defeating eighth-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. The win earned Tsonga his first career ATP Masters Series title, but more importantly a spot in the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

From the get-go the Paris crowd was visibly behind the Frenchman. Tsonga got out to an extremely quick start in his first career Masters Series final, as he broke the 26-year-old Nalbandian’s serve in the second game of the match. After saving a break point in the seventh game, Tsonga closed out the opening set in 32 minutes. In the second set, Tsonga served out of a 0-40 hole in the eighth game only to be later broken while serving down 4-5, 0-40. Nalbandian was able to even the match at one set apiece when the 23-year-old hit a forehand in the net. In the final set, Tsonga almost made things difficult as he gave Nalbandian three break point chances while in front 5-4. Tsonga quickly regrouped and was able to win the match on his first championship point when the Argentine netted a forehand.

“At the end of the match I felt a lot better. I played exactly like I had to,” said Tsonga. “I didn't do extraordinary things. Like in Australia I played volleys that were coming from nowhere, whereas today I played just right. I believe this is the way you win. It's not when you do lucky shots that you win. It's when you think about your shots.”

Tsonga smashed an incredible 25 aces past Nalbandian, while dropping just 10 points on his first serve throughout the roughly two hour match. Nalbandian, who won the If Stockholm Open a few weeks ago, hit only four aces but was haunted by four double faults. Tsonga was able to break serve on two of four chances, while Nalbandian broke serve only once in nine opportunities.

With his victory, Tsonga will rise to a career best No. 7 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings. Tsonga joins fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon as the only two French players ranked in the Top 10 in the current rankings. It’s the first time two French players held that honor since October 3, 1988, when Yannick Noah and Henri Leconte were both ranked in the Top 10. Tsonga, who started the year ranked No. 43 before making a fairytale run to the finals of the Australian Open before losing to Novak Djokovic, now owns two career singles titles. Missing three months earlier this year due to knee surgery, Tsonga became the first French player to win a Masters Series shield since Sebastien Grosjean defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov to win the Paris title in 2001.

Nalbandian, who could have won his second straight Paris title and clinched a spot in Shanghai, drops to No. 11 in the rankings and finishes the 2008 season with a 43-16 record. Besides reaching the finals this week, his season highlights included winning the singles title in Buenos Aires, as well as Stockholm. Nalbandian will rest for a couple weeks before being a top dog in his countries Davis Cup finals match against Spain in Mar de Plata in Argentina from November 21-23.