Tsonga upsets Federer to claim Rogers Cup title

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had one more surprise in his bag of upsets, beating Roger Federer 7-5 7-6 (3) to cap a scintillating march to the Rogers Cup title on Sunday.

After knocking off world number one Novak Djokovic in the third round, taking out twice champion and eighth seed Andy Murray in the quarters and seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov in the semis, Tsonga claimed the biggest scalp of all in denying 17-time grand slam winner Federer a landmark 80th career title.

Certainly there was no disputing that Tsonga's win was well-deserved as the 13th seeded Frenchman's hit list included players who had won seven of the last 10 Canadian titles (Djokovic 2012, 2011, 2007; Murray 2010, 2009 and Federer 2004, 2006).

"I feel good,"  a jubilant Tsonga told ABC News.. "I think for the moment I don't realize really what I achieved this week, but it's a big achievement for me.

"It's completely different than before when I won in Paris. In Paris it was the first one, behind my family, all my friends, everybody.

"Here I just did it with my level, with my game. I played well all week. I beat many good guys. It's a big achievement because I worked really hard to come back from my knee injury last year."

In 16 career meetings,​ Tsonga had beaten the Swiss maestro, who was the second seed this time​, just five times but three came on the Canadian hard courts.

It was 11th career title for Tsonga but his first this season.

Federer said: "I fought, I mixed it up and I was hoping to sort of sneak in a set and then maybe he would get a bit nervous or maybe would play a bad game." 

"But I just couldn't create enough opportunities. So I think he deserved to win at the end of the day. It was pretty simple, in my opinion."

Sources: Reuters, ABC News