As bodies gasp and groan on the practice courts around the O2 Arena at this climax to the ATP's 11-month odyssey, good money is drawn to those players still standing without the aid of a physiotherapist. Tsonga, a delicate flower at times in the past, is among the healthy; Fish, who crashed twice in consecutive tournaments before arriving at his first World Tour Finals, is not.

He was not visibly inconvenienced, especially in a competitive first set that went to a tie-break – the third in five singles matches so far, indicating, perhaps, the evenness of the competition among the...world's best eight players, or the rigours of the season, about which some of them complain vociferously.

Neither could hold serve in the first three games, before they found some sort of coherence in their shot-making, but Tsonga mostly looked the more threatening. He blasted six aces past Fish and took three in return, although his first-serve percentage, 48, was pretty miserable at this level.

Fish never got going in the second set and, at one point, bent double to look more closely at his feet. He has carried injuries in most other parts but those seemed to be holding up. Having lost to Rafael Nadal in a three-set struggle on Sunday, he will have to muster all his enthusiasm to complete his round-robin of matches in good spirits, against the defending champion, Roger Federer, on Thursday.

ATP World Tour Finals ATP World Tour Finals 2011 Tennis Jo-Wilfried Tsonga match reports Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on WhatsApp Share on Messenger Reuse this content

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