Tsonga rose to fame by virtue of his performance in the 2008 Australian Open when, as an unseeded player, he reached the final, having defeated four seeded players along the way, including a straight-sets win over world No. 2Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. Tsonga eventually lost to the world No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the final in four sets, after winning the first set; it was the only set Djokovic dropped during the tournament.
Tsonga followed this up by winning his first ATP Masters Series championship at the 2008 Paris Masters, thus qualifying for the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, China. His best performances in a major tournament since 2008 are semifinal appearances in the 2010 Australian Open, the 2013 and 2015 French Opens, and at Wimbledonin 2011 and 2012. He also reached the final of the 2011 ATP World Tour Finals, where he lost to five-time and defending champion Roger Federer. He achieved his second Masters Series win at the 2014 Canadian Open, defeating four top ten players on the way to victory, including Djokovic, Murray, and Federer. On top of his Masters Series victories, Tsonga also reached the final of the 2011 Paris Masters and the 2015 Shanghai Masters — losing to Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic respectively. To add to this, he won the 2009 Shanghai Masters doubles title with partner Julien Benneteau.
Tsonga Vaults Himself Into Nitto ATP Finals Contention _ ATP World Tour _ Tennis 
“I’m feeling good. It’s always good to win tournaments. I played really good tennis this week. I had a very good opponent today. He gave me a hard time. And I played some of my best tennis today on court,” Tsonga said.
“It’s really good, really positive for me and I hope I will be able to do something even better in the next week.”
Tsonga had captured titles in Lyon (d. Berdych), Marseille (d. Pouille) and Rotterdam (d. Goffin) earlier this year. With his 16th career title (16-11), the 32-year-old also vaulted himself into contention to make his fourth appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 12-19 November at The O2 in London.
Tsonga now has 2,055 points in the Emirates ATP Race To London, 550 points behind Pablo Carreno Busta, who currently holds the final qualification spot. But there are still two weeks remaining in the season for Tsonga to make up ground. He will try to do so this week at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna, where he is the eighth seed.
Against Schwartzman, Tsonga saved four of six break points and won 73 per cent of his first-serve points. Tsonga will receive 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points and €105,045 in prize money for winning the title.
Schwartzman said, “I think it was really tough against Jo. He was serving unbelievable today. I am trying always to return but he played better than me. He deserved to win. He’s a big player.”
The Argentine was looking to take home his second ATP World Tour title, after winning the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open last year (d. Dimitrov). He fell in the 2016 European Open final to Tsonga’s countryman Richard Gasquet. The Argentine will receive 150 Emirates ATP Rankings points and €55,325 in prize money.
“It was an unbelievable week for me. Second year here in Antwerp, second final,” Schwartzman said. “I am trying next year to win but it’s not going to be easy. I hope I don’t play against another Frenchman here.”
