Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 6-2 to win the Open de Moselle for a record third time on Sunday.
Tsonga took 2 hours, 17 minutes to defeat Simon in a reversal of the result of the 2013 final. It was a 12th career ATP Tour title for Tsonga, who moved level with Simon and Richard Gasquet as the most titled Frenchmen in singles among current players.
Both men were seeking a third Moselle title. Simon won in the northeastern city in 2010 and 2013, with Tsonga winning in 2011 and 2012.
Photo: AFP
Simon saved one match point on his serve, but handed Tsonga the break and the match moments later with another unforced error, hitting a forehand volley off the top of the net and wide.
Tsonga hit 16 aces, including one at 222kph, to move 5-2 up in the final set.
The first set went with serve, although Tsonga had to save six break points in his first two service games.
Simon went 5-2 up in the tiebreaker, but Tsonga fought back, winning the next five points to take the opening set.
Simon swiftly leveled the match after storming to a 5-0 lead in the second and then serving out the set at love.
“I don’t think I relaxed in the second set. I think that above all it was Gilles who pushed me into making errors,” said Tsonga, who made more than 40 errors in the opening two sets.
ST PETERSBURG OPEN
AP, ST PETERSBURG, Russia
Canada’s Milos Raonic won the St Petersburg Open on Sunday with a grueling three-set victory over Joao Sousa.
The big-serving Raonic, seeded second, hit 22 aces as he held off stern pressure from Sousa to wrap up a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win.
The Canadian dominated the first set, but lost a thrilling second in which Sousa saved seven break points in his first two service games, before becoming the first player to break Raonic’s serve at the tournament.
Raonic went a break up on seventh-seeded Sousa’s first service game in the deciding set and saved six break points on his own serve as he held on for the victory.
Raonic’s first title since the Washington Open in August last year strengthens his slim hopes of reaching the ATP Tour Finals in London.
He is now ranked No. 9, but is well behind the top eight in the year-to-date ranking used to determine the Tour Finals qualification.
Raonic is now 7-8 in ATP Tour singles finals, while Sousa dropped to 1-5, without a win since his first final at the 2013 Malaysian Open.
Earlier on Sunday, top seeds Treat Huey of the Philippines and Henri Kontinen of Finland won the doubles title, defeating Austrian second seeds Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya 7-5, 6-3.
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