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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is beaten by Jurgen Melzer in Kooyong Classic event
Qatar Open Tsonga struggled with the wind and fatigue during his defeat
The Kooyong Classic is an eight-player warm-up event for Australian Open
Qatar Open winner Jo-Wilfried Tsonga blamed fatigue and a troublesome wind for his straight sets defeat by Jurgen Melzer in the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Tsonga admitted jet-lag affected him during his opening match in the eight-player invitational event, but also pinned some blame on the weather conditions for his 6-4 6-3 loss.
Speaking to reporters, the Frenchman said: “I’m not feeling very well, I still have jetlag, but we all want to be ready for next week’s Australian Open.”
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Tsonga added: “Today was difficult to play in the wind. I’m not used to it anymore. I play most of my matches in big stadiums where there is little wind, so when we return to conditions like this, it’s very difficult for us.”
Austrian Melzer seemed to cope better with the blustery Melbourne weather, adding: ” We had really tough conditions, but when the wind wasn’t blowing I hit some good shots.
“It’s always good to get a win over a top 10 guy and I hope to keep it up this week and straight through to the Australian Open.”
Another player to find the going tough after a successful start to the season was Milos Raonic.
The Canadian won in Chennai last week but was crushed 6-1 6-2 by American Mardy Fish, before deciding to withdraw from his remaining matches citing exhaustion.
Losing Qatar finalist Gael Monfils edged Andy Roddick 7-6 7-6, while teenage Australian Bernard Tomic recovered to see off Czech Tomas Berdych 4-6 6-3 6-4.
There were straight sets wins for top seed Juan Martin del Potro and third seed Richard Gasquet in the Sydney Invitational, but there where plenty of surprises with John Isner (2), Feliciano Lopez (4) Viktor Troicki (5) and Radek Stepanek (8) all bowing out.
