Federer beats Tsonga in 3 sets at ATP finals

Roger Federer weathered a barrage of big hitting by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France to begin his title defense with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win Sunday in the opening match of the ATP World Tour Finals.Federer came into the tournament on a 12-match winning streak following titles in Basel and Paris, where he beat Tsonga in straight sets in the final a week ago.The 16-time Grand Slam champion looked set for another easy win when he took the first set in 21 minutes, but Tsonga found his feet and broke early in the second set before taking the match into a decider.A closely fought third set ended when the pressure seemed to get to Tsonga. Trailing 5-4, he was broken at 15 and Federer chalked up his third straight win over Tsonga since back-to-back losses at Wimbledon and Montreal.Today I had flashes of that match, Federer said of his five-set loss to Tsonga in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. I didnt have much of a chance for a while on his serve. You just try your best.Rafael Nadal was up against Mardy Fish in the second match in Group B later Sunday. Group A begins Monday with Andy Murray facing David Ferrer, and Novak Djokovic against Tomas Berdych.Nadal, unusually, was courtside to see the end of the Federer-Tsonga match, joining football stars Thierry Henry and Andrey Arshavin in the crowd to watch the opening match of the season-ending tournament for the years top eight players.Instead of supporting fellow Frenchman Tsonga, former Arsenal striker Henry sat alongside Federers wife Mirka.Were good friends, Federer said. I think hes just happy to come and see me play once in a while. It was nice to catch up with him again.Federer has now won at least 60 matches for nine straight years, and extended his career record over Tsonga to 7-3.