Tsonga, Carreno Busta into third round

Crowd favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has advanced to the third round of the Australian Open, mounting a remarkable comeback to defeat Canadian rising star Denis Shapovalov 3-6 6-3 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-5.

Tsonga trailed 5-2 in the fifth set on Wednesday before breaking his 18-year-old opponent’s serve twice to claim victory in three hours and 36 minutes on Margaret Court Arena.

The popular Frenchman is now set to take on Nick Kyrgios in the third round should the top-ranked Australian defeat Serbia’s Viktor Troicki on Wednesday evening.

Appearing at his first Australian Open and third grand slam, world No.50 Shapovalov looked to be cruising when he claimed the third set in just 26 minutes.

But Tsonga, 14 years Shapovalov’s senior and with almost 600 more career matches to his name, found his serve in the fourth set to send the match to a decider.

With both men chancing their arm at the net, Shapovalov continued to unleash outrageous winners.

But he appeared to lose his nerve in the decider, giving up service breaks at pivotal moments.

It was redemption for Tsonga after he was defeated by Shapovalov in straight sets in the second round of last year’s US Open.

Shapovalov went on to make the round of 16 before his dream run was stopped by Pablo Carreno Busta.

The Spanish 10th seed earlier became the first man through to the third round at Melbourne Park following the mid-match retirement of opponent Gilles Simon.

Carreno Busta was leading 6-2 3-0 when the Frenchman pulled the pin.

A semi-finalist at last year’s US Open, Carreno Busta took the first set with one of the shots of the tournament – an audacious tweener on the run that lobbed over Simon’s head at the net.

The 26-year-old beat Australian wildcard Jason Kubler in the opening round at Melbourne Park on Monday.

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