It will be an all-French final on Sunday at the Open 13 Marseille. Second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga finally broke defending champion Nick Kyrgios to take their semi-final 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-4 in two hours and 12 minutes. Later in the day, fourth seed Lucas Pouille dismissed countryman Richard Gasquet 7-5, 6-3 to reach his first final of the season. Tsonga twice broke the 21-year-old Kyrgios and withstood 16 aces to earn the chance for a third Open 13 Marseille title, having also won the event in 2009 and 2013. Kyrgios had held all tournament and didn't drop his serve once during his title run in Marseille a year ago, which was his maiden ATP World Tour crown. [ALSO LIKE] The 31-year-old...
Seventh seed Juan Martin del Potro wanted an opportunity to test himself against the world's best players at the Delray Beach Open. He'll get just that when he takes the court on Saturday for a mouth-watering semi-final battle with top seed Milos Raonic that showcases two of the biggest serves and forehands in tennis. Del Potro and Raonic are even in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry at 1-1, but haven't played in four years. The Argentine, competing in his first ATP World Tour event of the season, said he was eager to see how his game responds against an in-form Raonic. His last match against a Top 5 player in the Emirates ATP Rankings came this past October in Basel...
Top seed Milos Raonic weathered a stern test from eighth seed Kyle Edmund on Friday at the Delray Beach Open to advance into the final four 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Edmund showed no fear in the opening set, grabbing the lone break at 3-3 and later holding to love at 5-4 to clinch the early lead. But Raonic responded strongly as he won the final three games of the second set to level the match and broke immediately to start the deciding set. The Canadian held his slight advantage the rest of the way, comfortably closing out the match on serve to advance in one hour and 39 minutes. “I was a little bit slow off the block, got a little...
Second seed Dominic Thiem continued his dominant form on Friday at the Rio Open presented by Claro, sweeping into his first ATP World Tour semi-final of the year with a convincing 6-2, 6-3 win over Diego Schwartzman. Thiem wasted no time getting down to business, keeping Schwartzman on the defence with his returns and racing through 11 of the first 13 games. The Argentine provided a late surge by breaking Thiem twice to go on a three-game run, but the Austrian calmly responded by breaking Schwartzman to love to advance in one hour and 15 minutes. But the highlight of the match came at 3-0 in the second set, when Thiem hit a tweener passing shot winner that brought the...
Defending champion Nick Kyrgios cruised into the semi-finals of the Open 13 Marseille on Friday, dismissing Slovakian qualifier Norbert Gombos 6-3, 6-3. The 21-year-old Australian captured his first ATP World Tour title in Marseille 12 months ago, defeating Marin Cilic in the final. Later in the year he added to his title haul at the BB&T Atlanta Open (d. Isner) and the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo (d. Goffin). Kyrgios booked his spot in the last four at this ATP World Tour 250 tournament in just 58 minutes. The third seed fired 15 aces and lost just six points on serve in a dominant display. He goes on to face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the first time. Watch Kyrgios...
