The turnaround enabled Levi's to produce its most profitable years in more than a decade during 2007,but that performance increasingly is looking like it will be a tough to beat as skittish consumers ecome more frugal.这个句子中的but that performance increasingly is looking like it will be a tough to beat as skittish consumers ecome more frugal怎么翻译，这里的a tough to beat是个短语吗？

“a tough to beat"应该不是固定短语，但有这种用法，如：
He 's going to be a jolly tough candidate to beat.
他会成为很难击败的候选人 。
ps：tough做名词时多为“恶棍”的意思。

“but that performance increasingly is looking like it will be a tough to beat as skittish consumers become more frugal”这个句子可以翻译为：
然而，当有所顾忌的消费者越来越节俭，
它成为棘手问题的迹象就越来越明显。