Eleven years after beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the 2008 Australian Open, top seed Novak Djokovic bested the Frenchman again at Melbourne Park to reach the third round early on Friday.
The world number one Serb claimed a clinical 6-3 7-5 6-4 win over wildcard entry Tsonga in the late match at Rod Laver Arena.
While Djokovic is seeking a third successive Grand Slam title, Tsonga has been on a different trajectory, with his ranking slipping to 177 after his 2018 season was cut short by knee injury in April.
The gap between the players’ standing was on full show as Djokovic cruised to victory in two hours and four minutes, setting up a mouthwatering intergenerational clash with Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov.