France hail showman Tsonga as new Noah

By Eric Salliot

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga may bear a striking resemblance with the young Muhammad Ali but France would like to see him more as the new Yannick Noah.

The energetic 22-year-old, who knocked out another puncher in world number two Rafael Nadal with a dazzling display on Thursday to reach the Australian Open final, is an extrovert and a showman, just like Noah.

Both Tsonga and Noah's fathers were born in Africa, in Congo and Cameroon respectively. The two are exceptional athletes and crowd pleasers with a taste for serve-and-volley.

Noah, now a chart-topping singer and still one of France's most popular personalities, was the last Frenchman to win a grand slam at the 1983 French Open.

Tsonga is now hoping he could be the next.

Before outclassing Nadal, he had sounded warnings by flooring two top 10 players in Britain's Andy Murray and Frenchman Richard Gasquet, an exceptionally gifted player and France's greatest hope until this week.

World number 38 Tsonga had promised much when he reached two Australian Open semi-finals in the juniors.

But a series of injuries meant he failed to reproduce the form on the main tour and he was soon eclipsed by his younger compatriots Gasquet and the gangly Gael Monfils.