NEW YORK _ That moment you realize all hope is lost and you reach for the ripcord. Not that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga didn't have a legitimate injury. He called for medical treatment between the second and third sets Tuesday night on Arthur Ashe Stadium Court and got a wrap for his left knee.
But he was down two sets to world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who was playing lights-out tennis. So when Tsonga missed a serve to open the third set, he looked plaintively at the referee and tapped out of his seemingly inevitable straight-set loss to the tune of some mild booing. Tennis fans are a polite bunch, after all.
It shaped up as a tough quarterfinal U.S. Open match because Tsonga came in with six wins in 21 meetings with Djokovic. Instead it became the third match out of five in which Djokovic watched as his opponent retired. Djo ko vic was leading 6-3, 6-2.
In tennis, discretion is the better part of valor, apparently. The Open is the last of the season's Grand Slam events, but it's gradually turning into a cakewalk for Djokovic, who advanced to face Frenchman Gael Monfils in the semifinals Thursday.
Djokovic broke Tsonga twice in each set, won 83 percent of his first-serve points, had only 12 unforced errors to 37 for Tsonga and won 63 percent of his baseline points compared to 24 percent for Tsonga.
It was hard to blame Tsonga for making a quick exit. Everything he hit over the net came back low, hard and out of reach.
The brilliance of Djokovic was on display in the second set when he broke for a 2-1 lead. On the second deuce point, Djokovic sent a forehand screaming crosscourt with Tsonga stuck on the other side. On the next point, Djokovic zipped a backhand crosscourt the other direction with the same result. Tsonga netted a forehand on break point.
When Tsonga was broken again in the seventh game after going to deuce a third time, he committed two unforced errors. Djokovic then served out the second set at love, ending with an ace.
Facing the prospect of trying to win three sets against a player like Djokovic, Tsonga veered to the off ramp, and the fans followed suit to the exits.
