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Haas rolls back the years to stun top seed Tsonga in Munich

updated 1:21 PM EDT, Wed May 2, 2012
Tommy Haas punches the air with delight after shocking top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the BMW Open in Munich.
Tommy Haas punches the air with delight after shocking top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the BMW Open in Munich.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga crashes out of ATP event in Munich
  • Tsonga beaten in straight sets by former World No.2 Tommy Haas
  • The 34-year-old Haas will next play Marcos Baghdatis
  • Richard Gasquet through to third round in Estoril

(CNN) -- German veteran Tommy Haas stunned top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the quarterfinals of the BMW Open in Munich Wednesday.

The 34-year-old Haas received a wild card to make his first appearance at the clay court tournament in five years and repaid the compliment with a 6-1 6-4 victory in just 59 minutes.

Haas, a former world number two, has been hampered by injuries in recent seasons, but rolled back the years with a superb display.

He broke the Frenchman twice in the opening set and was rock solid behind his own service throughout.

World number five Tsonga offered more resistance in the second set, but Haas, now 134 in the rankings, broke him in the fifth game and held on to claim his scalp.

Tsonga, who lost to compatriot Gilles Simon in the quarterfinals of last week's Monte Carlo Masters, was making his first appearance in Munich.

"Simply said it was that Tommy played better than me," Tsonga told AFP. "He didn't allow me any time to express myself, or to control the ball."

The 27-year-old will now head to the Rome Masters as he prepares for the French Open later this month.

Haas will be playing his first quarterfinal of the year against Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who beat qualifier Dustin Brown 1-6 6-4 6-1 in one hour and 47 minutes.

The 26-year-old Baghdatis recovered from a set down to reach his fourth quarterfinal in 2012.

Croatian third seed Marin Cilic cruised into the last eight as he beat Germany's Matthias Bachinger 6-3 6-2.

Meanwhile at the ATP event in Estoril, second seed Richard Gasquet of France reached the third round in fine style.

The Frenchman beat Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 6-1 6-1 on the clay in Portugal.

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