Tsonga ousts eighth-ranked Khachanov at Washington ATP

France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated his first top-10 rival in nearly two years, ousting Russian second seed Karen Khachanov 6-4 2-6 7-5 at the ATP Washington Open.

The 34-year-old Frenchman, ranked 70th in the world, on Tuesday outlasted eighth-ranked Khachanov after one hour and 58 minutes, turning back the clock to reach the third round of the US Open hardcourt tuneup event.

"I played very good tennis," Tsonga said.

"Everything went OK. Just very happy to go through. It's good to see some results for all the hard work."

Tsonga, who lost his only Grand Slam final to Novak Djokovic at the 2008 Australian Open, had dropped six matches in a row against top-10 rivals since beating fifth-ranked German Alexander Zverev in October 2017 in a Vienna quarter-final.

There's a revitalized spark in Tsonga, who won his 17th ATP title in February at Montpellier as a 210th-rated wildcard. He fired 13 aces and won 80 percent of his first-serve points.

"When you play so long, sometimes you don't feel