Jo-Wilfried Tsonga takes to the court against Marin Cilic at the Cincinnati Masters tonight.
Tsonga’s chances in this one will depend on how well he has recovered from the right arm injury which forced him to retire against Novak Djokovic in the Montreal semi-finals.
Tsonga was trailing by a set and a break when he called it quits but has recovered enough in the past couple of days for doctors to allow him to compete this week.
This is a seriously tough opening round draw for him. Cilic is a former Grand Slam semi-finalist and has been in the top ten. The 22 year old has had a pretty average season but over the past month he’s shown some promising signs, reaching the Umag final and beating Juan Martin Del Potro in Montreal last week.
Cilic lost a round later to Djokovic in Canada but it was fairly close for a set, only for the Croatian’s slightly suspect forehand to break down under pressure.
Surprisingly this is only the second time they have met on the main tour, Cilic winning the previous clash 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 at Queens in 2007.
