Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was all smiles after capturing the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
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By McCarton Ackerman
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga rebounded from a largely disappointing season to capture his first title of 2014, defeating No. 2 seed Roger Federer in the Rogers Cup final in Toronto, 7-5, 7-6 (3).
Federer led their head-to-head 11-4 going into the championship match on Sunday, but Tsonga had won both of their previous meetings in Canada. Both players struggled to find their range on their shots in the opening set, but the former world No. 1 played an uncharacteristically loose service game at 5-6, spraying four errors from the baseline to give Tsonga the opening set.
Both players held serve throughout the second set to force a tiebreak, but the No. 13 seed held serve far more easily and didn't face a single break point in the match. Tsonga picked up a mini-break at 4-3 in the tiebreak after Federer sent a backhand long, and he never looked back from there, winning the last three points to clinch the title.
The win gave Tsonga his 11th career title, but this is arguably the most impressive result of his career since he recorded four consecutive Top 10 victories. After dismantling world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the third round, he went on to defeat No. 8 seed Andy Murray and No. 7 seed Grigor Dimitrov before his victory over Federer.
With the win, Tsonga took the lead in the Emirates Airline US Open Series Bonus Challenge Standings. Citi Open champion Mios Raonic is second, and Federer is tied for third place with BB&T Atlanta Open winner John Isner.