Red-hot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Australia’s Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 6-4 on Saturday to make the final of the Open 13 in Marseille in which he was due to meet fellow Frenchman Lucas Pouille.
Victory yesterday in the final would mean a career first for Tsonga of back-to-back ATP Tour triumphs and marks a real return to form for last year’s US Open quarter-finalist.
Last week, Tsonga won the title in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where he came from a set down to beat Belgian David Goffin.
Photo: AFP
“I’m on top form right now so let’s see,” Tsonga said. “I did what I had to do, it was great tennis.”
Kyrgios had his serve broken at 5-4 serving for the set and went down 7-5 in the eventual tiebreaker for the first set.
The infamously temperamental Australian was the defending champion and rampaged back to claim the second set 6-2, but a fully determined Tsonga won out with a 6-4 final set.
“I wanted to show him I’d be there for each shot,” said Tsonga, who is due to climb to eighth in the world rankings.
Pouille thumped another Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, 7-5, 6-3 and had even been leading 5-0 in the second set.
Pouille and Tsonga have only met once before, Tsonga winning on the clay in Monaco last season.
“Jo is right back on form and I’m glad to be playing him tomorrow. I’ll need to serve well to beat him,” Pouille said.
DELRAY BEACH OPEN
AFP, MIAMI
Top-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic held off Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) on Saturday to book a title clash with Jack Sock at the Delray Beach Open.
Despite some shaky moments, Raonic fought off a set point in the second-set tiebreaker and closed out the match with his 17th ace to advance to a meeting with Sock, a 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) winner over fellow American Donald Young.
“You know it’s going to be close, so it’s about keeping disciplined and a positive attitude on the court,” Raonic said.
World No. 4 Raonic broke Del Potro in the 11th game of the second set to serve for the match, but the big-serving 26-year-old was broken back, firing a forehand wide to give Del Potro a break point which the 2009 US Open winner converted with a backhand winner.
Raonic was close again with a 5-4 lead in the tiebreaker and two service points to come, but he double-faulted and sent a forehand wide to give Del Potro a set point that the seventh seed could not convert.
Another forehand long from Del Potro gave Raonic a 7-6 lead and the Canadian won a third straight point to reach his first final of the season.
“He was coming so fast to my game and slice that I couldn’t manage my backhands,” Del Potro said. “I tried my best, but he was too good.”
Sock was seeking to add a second title of the year to the one he lifted in Auckland last month.
He saved the only break point he faced in the match and won the final seven points of the second-set tiebreaker to seize the victory.
“It definitely could have gone either way in the first set,” Sock said. “He’s a tricky player in that he makes you play a lot of balls and can wear you down, but also has great hands at the net when he comes forward.”
In the semi-finals of the doubles, Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun and Leander Paes of India fell to a 6-2, 6-1 defeat to third seeds Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi in just 58 minutes.
The Philippine-Belarussian duo were due to face second seeds Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Rajeev Ram of the US in the final after they ousted Jonathan Erlich of Israel and Scott Lipsky of the US 6-3, 3-6, 10-1.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but