Kudla notched his first quarterfinal appearance on the ATP Tour
No. 4 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated unseeded Denis Kudla yesterday in a quarterfinal match at the Aegon Championships, 6-3, 6-2.
“I played well from the baseline,” said Tsonga. “I served well. Just played solid tennis. I’m really happy with how I played and I am looking forward to the semifinal match up with [Andy] Murray.”
Kudla was on top of his game at the Aegon Championships as he did not drop a set or a service game in his first three matches. En route to the quarterfinal appearance, his first on the ATP tour, he defeated high-profiled players including No. 25 Benoit Paire and No. 86 Kenny de Schepper.
But he faced adversity early on in the duel with world No. 7. An early break in the first frame set the tone for the match. Tsonga then applied relentless pressure on his own serve. In the two sets, Tsonga was 30 for 35 in first points won (85%). Besides serve consistency, Tsonga peppered the service line with tracers and tallied 13 aces.
Kudla rallied in the second set but was again broken in the fifth game.
Tsonga will face 2011 Aegon Championships winner Andy Murray in the semifinals. They played each other in the 2011 final.
