Tsonga defeated Novak in a surprising come back

11-14-2008 | AFP

The French player kept fighting until he dominated the world number three

Panama Star Tsonga, who was already eliminated after losing his first two matches, was woeful in the first set, but he came out fighting to edge the second and dominated the decider.

The result further avenges Tsonga's Australian Open final loss to Djokovic and gives him three wins in a row over the Serb after his victories in Bangkok and Paris.

Djokovic, who earlier beat Juan Martin del Potro and Nikolay Davydenko, remains top of Gold Group and will play Andy Murray, Roger Federer or Gilles Simon in Saturday's semi-finals.

"He was better than me in the first two sets, but I took the second one. It was daylight robbery!" Tsonga said.

"And then for him maybe it was difficult to stay concentrated because he's qualified and he has to think about the next match."

The 21-year-old Djokovic looked odds-on to make it three wins out of three as he rattled through the first set in just 25 minutes.

But Tsonga, 23, rallied and broke for the first time for the second set. The Frenchman was at his brilliant best in the final set, breaking twice before finishing it with an irresistible lob on match point.