This match was expected to be more competitive than the Djokovic-Monfils match.  Of course, one could argue that it would have to be given Monfils only won 3 games.  For a few games, it was pretty close.  Tsonga was able to attack on his own serves, and the two stayed close to 4-all.  Djokovic was winning his serves a little more easily, while Tsonga had to play good points to hold his serve.

However, at 5-4, Tsonga was unable to maintain a small lead he had in his game, and Djokovic was able to get the break and the set.  Djokovic then held to open the second set.  Tsonga made a few too many errors and got broken.  He went to the chair umpire, Damien Steiner, and asked for a trainer, but basically said “I can’t hit the ball”.  The ESPN announcers thought he was joking about how tough it was to beat Djokovic.

Nonetheless, the trainer was called as Djokovic served and held to take a 3-0 lead.  The trainer came out to talk to Tsonga, and after a few minutes, Tsonga decided he had to retire.

Despite this loss, Tsonga should move from 16 in the world to 10.

Djokovic now plays Fish in the finals.  They’ve met 6 times with Djokovic winning all six times.  Their matches were more competitive when they first played, but it’s been tougher lately for Fish to make a dent.   Fish is likely to play more serve and volley given how tough it would be to play Djokovic from the baseline.  Fish doesn’t have nearly the firepower that Tsonga does.  He is steady, can hit some big shots, but lacks the kind of explosiveness to really press Djokovic.

Should Djokovic win, and he’ll be favored to do so, he’ll be the first player to win 5 Masters 1000 titles since it was named as such in 1990.  Two players have won 4 Masters 1000, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.  This will be Mardy Fish’s fourth Masters 1000 final.  He’s never won one.  The two met at a Masters 1000 final a few years ago in Indian Wells when Djokovic was first starting to climb the ranks.

Fish has won Atlanta, was runner-up at LA, skipped Washington DC, and made a final at Montreal duplicating similar results from last summer when he played great tennis to move him up into the top 20.  Win or lose, Fish should move to number 7 in the world.  However, he is defending finalists points in Cincy, so Monfils could easily come back to number 7 after Cincy especially since he is defending relatively few points.

Next week, another Masters 1000 at Cincinnati.  David Ferrer is coming back off injury.  Soderling appears to be still injured and won’t play.  Andy Roddick should also return.