Faced with the gnarled, unshaven baddie staring him down in the opposite corner, the kid with the golden arm emerged from the Shanghai shootout yesterday blowing out the smoke from the barrel of his red-hot revolver. Jo-Wilf is the name; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

To the acclaim - almost disbelief - of the Parisian masses, the 23-year-old not only became the first from his country to win a Masters tournament since Sébastien Grosjean lifted this BNP Paribas Trophy seven years ago but he will join the Chinese jamboree which starts in seven days' time, brushing shoulders with the very best in the world. On the evidence of his 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory over David Nalbandian at the Palais Omnisports yesterday, none will fancy facing him down.

It goes to the heart of Tsonga that, when faced with the daunting prospect of serving for the match, something that drained the colour from his cheeks, he recovered from being 40-0 down and if a couple of those points were gifted by errors one would not expect from a player of Nalbandian's comptence, it was because Tsonga simply refused to keep coming forward like a boxer who knows only one way to box.

There is more than just the facial resemblance to Muhammad Ali, a quirk of nature that was quickly seized upon when the young Tsonga was making his way through the ranks, but he has the great man's irrepressibility, too. And who knows, one day, he could be right up there among the greatest. He stands proudly in their company now and they know it.

We knew it came down to this - that the winner of this final would qualify for Shanghai outright, the loser would miss out. Those in charge at the ATP would have been mortified had Nalbandian won because the Argentinian repeatedly made it clear during the week that his sights were set on the Davis Cup final against Spain later this month. If it meant him passing up on the opportunity of playing in the Masters Cup, so be it.

One can understand his priorities, that home advantage with the opportunity of leading Argentina to an historic first win in the championship is uppermost and 10 days, lucrative or not, in China are of secondary consideration. Nalbandian's attitude was certainly not that of his compatriot, Juan Martin Del Potro, who famously said last week that he spent every night dreaming of Shanghai. He can now enjoy it for real.

So can Tsonga and what an attraction he is going to be for the Chinese, all those aces - 25 of them in the final yesterday - the joie de vivre, the blistering forehand and the attitude that first came to international attention in January when he reached the final of the Australian Open. Tsonga's season has been interrupted since by aches, pains and strains. Hopefully, the worst has passed. He is a breath of fresh air.