Mason: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga followed his week of big upsets with an early exit on Tuesday, losing his opening match at the Western & Southern Open.
Two days after he won his second Masters title in Toronto, Tsonga lost to Mikhail Youzhny 1-6, 1-4 in only 68 minutes.
Venus Williams beat sister Serena while reaching the finals in Montreal on Sunday, finishing as runner-up. She lost to Lucie Safarova 6-7 (2), 3-6, 4-6 in the first round here on Tuesday.
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic came back to beat Gilles Simon 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in his opening match.
The Cincinnati tournament is the only Masters series event Djokovic has never won, finishing as the runner-up four times. If he wins this week, he’ll become the first with titles at all nine ATP Masters events.
First, he had to get past Simon. He had trouble putting away the Frenchman, whom he has now beaten eight straight times. The opening game of the third set went 20 points and 15 minutes, with Simon surviving six break points.
Djokovic finally broke through for a 4-3 lead and served out the 2-hour, 9-minute match. The last set alone took 59 minutes. Djokovic had 36 unforced errors in the breezy evening conditions.
The tournament lost its defending women’s champion on Tuesday when Victoria Azarenka withdrew because of an injured right knee. Defending men’s champion Rafael Nadal withdrew before the tournament because of an injured wrist.
Fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova broke Madison Keys to go up 3-0 in the final set and held on for a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win that was gratifying. She was coming off a loss in the third round at Montreal.
Azarenka’s withdrawal is the latest setback in a season full of injuries. She’s been sidelined for much of the year with an ailing left foot. She aggravated an injury to her right knee at Montreal, and hoped a few days of rest would take care of it.
“I started to feel a little bit better and did everything I could, but it’s just not enough time for me to feel good to play a full match,” she said.
