JOIN USFrench third seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga suffered a shock 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 defeat by Dutch wildcard Igor Sijsling in the first round of the World Indoor Tournament on Monday.
The 27-year-old Tsonga squandered five breakpoints before surrendering the first set 7-3 in the tie-break, but appeared to have gained control of the match when he levelled the contest at one-set all.
But Tsonga’s serve, which had produced 14 aces, collapsed in the 10th game of decisive set and that allowed his 77th-ranked opponent to pull off an unlikely victory.
“I can’t say I played bad tennis but on this kind of surface matches are always tight,” said Tsonga, the highest seed in action on Monday in a tournament headed by Roger Federer. Tsonga’s compatriot Gilles Simon eased past German Daniel Brands with a 7-6, 6-4 win.
Both players dropped their serve twice before Simon clinched the tie-break and won the second to set up a second round match with Italian qualifier Matteo Viola.
‘Biological passports’
World number two Roger Federer has called for the introduction of biological passports in tennis similar to those used in cycling to detect possible doping.
"A blood passport will be necessary as some substances can't be discovered right now but might in the future, and that risk of discovery can chase cheaters away," the 31-year-old Swiss said.
"But there also should be more blood tests and out of competition controls in tennis," he added. According to figures on the International Tennis Federation website, sport's governing body carried out only 21 out-of-competition blood tests in the professional game in 2011.
The UCI introduced biological passports in 2008 to track any blood changes in riders against an original profile which could mean they had taken illegal substances.
Defending champion Federer take on Slovenian Grega Zemlja on Wednesday.