Tsonga crashes out of US Open
French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga became the first major casualty of the US Open on Thursday when he slumped to a 6-4, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 defeat to unheralded Slovak Martin Klizan.
Tsonga, who made the quarterfinals in 2011, had come into the final Grand Slam event of the season in a fog of injury and form worries summed up by having to skip the Cincinnati event after cutting his knee on a fire hyrdant.
His defeat was good news for British third seed Andy Murray, the Olympic champion, who had been due to face the Frenchman in the semifinals.
Left-hander Klizan, the world 52, progressed to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time and will tackle either 32nd seed Jeremy Chardy of France or Australia's Matthew Ebden.
Klizan only won his first career Grand Slam match this year at the French Open, spending most of his time on the second-tier Challenger tour where he won four titles this season.
But he shrugged off that inexperience on Thursday, firing 32 winners to help offset the 42 unforced errors he sent down in a daring display of attacking tennis.
Elsewhere on Thursday, Spanish 11th seed Nicolas Almagro fought back to beat Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 5-7, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 with the German's challenge undone by 62 unforced errors.
Japan's 17th seed Kei Nishikori also made the third round with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 win over American qualifier Tim Smyczek.
Top seed and five-time champion Roger Federer reached the last 32 with an easy 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 win over Germany's Bjorn Phau and next faces Spain's Fernando Verdasco, whom he has beaten four times in four matches.
Federer, bidding to become the first man to win six New York titles in the Open era, clinched the 90-minute match with his 15th ace after also firing 44 winners past the 32-year-old Phau, the world number 83.
Men's sixth seed Tomas Berdych eased past Estonia's Jurgen Zopp 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 and faces America's Sam Querrey next.
American 23rd seed Mardy Fish, a quarterfinalist in 2008, beat Russia's Nikolay Davydenko, a semifinalist in 2006 and 2007, in a gruelling five-setter.
His 4-6, 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 win was the 10th comeback victory from two sets-to-love down in the men's tournament this year.
