Tennis

Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon: Tsonga reaches first clay-court final

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame a second-set wobble to reach his first clay-court final at theĀ Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon by beatingĀ Nikoloz Basilashvili.

Basilashvili surprisingly forced a decider against the home hope, breaking the Frenchman twice in the second set.

But Tsonga responded magnificently in the third, rattling off four straight games to move a win away from a third title of 2017 with a 6-2 3-6 6-1 triumph.

It will not be top seed Milos Raonic who he faces in the final, though, after Tomas Berdych won the other semi-final in straight sets.

Raonic had won five of the previous seven meetings between the two, including their showdownĀ in Rome last week.

But it was Berdych who edged Friday’sĀ last-four contest, winning two tie-breaks to prevail 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-2).

World number six Raonic knocked down 17 aces, but paid the price in the first set for spurning three set points onĀ Berdych’sĀ serve.

He then forged a 3-1 lead in the tie-break, but won just two more points as Berdych took the set.

Raonic was able to break Berdych in the second for a 2-1 lead, only to see that disappear as the Czech struck back three games later and then went to dominate in the second tie-break.

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Related Articles

Back to top button
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x