Tennis: Herbert beats Berdych to set up Montpellier final with Tsonga

PARIS - French seventh seed Pierre-Hugues Herbert downed Czech Tomas Berdych 6-2 7-5 to set up an all-French final with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier on Saturday.

Herbert breezed through the opening set but Berdych offered more resistance in the second, only for the former world number four to crack at a key moment.

A Berdych double fault at 5-5 in the second set earned Herbert a break and the Frenchman then served it out to claim his first win against the Czech.

Wildcard Tsonga beat Moldova's Radu Albot 6-1 6-3 after overcoming an early break in the second set.

Doubles specialist Herbert, who won the Australian Open title with Nicolas Mahut last month, will be looking to claim his first singles title on Sunday.

Tsonga will be bidding for his 17th singles title but his first since 2017.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Fognini surprises Tsonga to reach Indian Wells 3rd round

INDIAN WELLS -- Italy's Fabio Fognini shocked French seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-4 Saturday to reach the third round of the ATP Indian Wells Masters.

Fognini, ranked 43rd in the world, notched his first win over eighth-ranked Tsonga in five career meetings.

He also ended the Frenchman's nine-match winning streak that had seen him lift trophies in Rotterdam and Marseille.

Tsonga likely won't be dwelling on the defeat with other matters to capture his attention. His wife is expecting their first child in April and he only decided at the last minute to make the trip to California.

World number one Andy Murray headlined men's second-round play on stadium court, taking on Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil.

Murray is making his 12th straight appearance at Indian Wells, where his best performance is a runner-up finish to Rafael Nadal in 2009.

Last year, he exited in the third round, but he will be looking for better with a 12-2 match record in 2017 that includes his 45th career title at Dubai this month.

Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka, a two-time quarter-finalist, takes a 2-0 career record over Italian Paolo Lorenzi into their stadium-court clash.

In early matches, eighth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem eased past France's Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 6-4 while Japanese lucky loser Yoshihito Nishioka upset 19th-seeded Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 6-3.

Nishioka withstood a dozen aces from the Croatian veteran, breaking him three times while saving all seven break points he faced.

Former finalist John Isner of the United States made it safely into the third round with a 7-6 (7/0), 7-6 (8/6) victory over Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin. And 11th-seeded Belgian David Goffin advanced with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over Russian Karen Khachanov.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Tsonga lights up Paris to reach last eight, Cornet out

PARIS - Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga illuminated a grey day in Paris with a thrilling win over Tomas Berdych to reach the French Open quarter-finals on Sunday but Maria's Sharapova's title defence was put on hold by the rain.

Roger Federer, the 2009 men's champion, was another player kept waiting by the weather and although the Swiss did get on court, he walked off in the gathering gloom unsure about his last eight prospects, locked at one-set all with Gael Monfils.

After home favourite Alize Cornet's run petered out in a bitter 6-2 7-6(9) defeat by Ukraine's 19th seed Elina Svitolina in a match held up for three hours by the rain, home eyes turned to Tsonga on Court Philippe Chatrier.

All seemed to be going well when the local favourite led by two sets against bad-tempered Czech fourth seed Berdych, who seemed unhappy to be playing in on-and-off drizzle, but when he served for the match at 5-4 in the third the dampness seemed to get into his circuitry and he fluffed his chance.

Berdych pounced to take the third set on a tiebreak and, as French cheers from fans huddled under colourful umbrellas in the stands turned to near silence, the Czech moved a break ahead in the fourth and looked favourite to go on and win.

Out of nowhere, however, the spring returned to Tsonga's step and with an onslaught of heavy hitting he reeled off five games in a row to win 6-3 6-2 6-7(5) 6-3.

The injury-plagued Tsonga sealed victory when Berdych wafted a backhand long and the Frenchman danced for joy before conducting the crowd's "Oles" with his towel.

It was only the third time in nine meetings that 30-year-old Tsonga, seeded 14, had beaten Berdych and his reward is a quarter-final against Japan's Kei Nishikori.

Title tip Nishikori had not struck a ball in anger since his second-round win over Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci on Wednesday after his third-round opponent Benjamin Becker of Germany pulled out with an injury.

If there was any rust, however, he soon shook it off to outclass Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3 6-4 6-2 and reach the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time.

He also became the first Japanese man to get this far at the French Open for more than 80 years and he sounded like he had no intention of stopping yet.

"I think quarter-final that's the first goal for this week," the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up said. "I hope it's just the start of my journey, and I hope I can keep going."

Eighth seed Stan Wawrinka made up for lost time as he blew away Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-1 6-4 6-2 to set up a last eight encounter with either fellow Swiss Federer or Monfils.

MATCHES POSTPONED

Two of the scheduled women's fourth-round matches were postponed -- Sharapova's clash against Czech 13th seed Lucie Safarova and Italian Flavia Pennetta's meeting with Spain's Garbine Muguruza.

Those matches will be wedged into Monday's schedule when better weather is expected in the French capital.

French number one Cornet's first appearance in the last 16 of her home grand slam got off to a terrible start as she went 5-0 down to Svitolina in the first set before the rain arrived.

She fought tooth and nail after that but her 20-year-old opponent was too far ahead. Although Cornet saved five match points and dragged the second set into a tiebreak, she was unable to continue her quest.

The home hope was left seething after a tight call went against her on break point down at 5-5 in the second set -- the umpire climbing off the chair to confirm Svitolina's claim that Cornet's shot had landed fractions long.

"It's a scandal," Cornet told a news conference. "It's shameful. I don't know how she could look me straight in the eye and tell me the ball was out."

Svitolina will next face former champion and world number one Ana Ivanovic after the Serbian seventh seed beat Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-5 3-6 6-1.

Ivanovic will be appearing in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time since winning the title in 2008.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman and Julien Pretot; Editing by Mark Meadows and Ken Ferris)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Tsonga caps week of upsets with Rogers title

TORONTO - Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had one more surprise in his bag of upsets, beating second seeded Roger Federer 7-5 7-6 (3) to cap a scintillating march to the Rogers Cup title on Sunday.

After knocking off world number one Novak Djokovic in the third round, taking out twice champion and eighth seed Andy Murray in the quarters and seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov in the semis, Tsonga denied 17-time grand slam winner Federer a landmark 80th career title.

"I played well all this week, I beat many good guys," said Tsonga. "It's a big achievement because I worked really hard to come back from my knee injury last year.

"Unfortunately there is no secret...behind this there is a lot of work.

"I'm waiting for this since couple of months now. I was looking for my best level, today I had it and it's great."

Certainly there was no disputing that Tsonga's win was well-deserved, the 13th seeded Frenchman's hit list including players who had won seven of the last 10 Canadian titles (Djokovic 2012, 2011, 2007; Murray 2010, 2009 and Federer 2004, 2006).

It marked the first time since 2002 that a player had beaten the four top seeds to win a Masters series event.

"He beat great players along the way and backed it up with another great final," said Federer, who turned 33 on Friday and had been hoping to celebrate his birthday by lifting the trophy. "No excuses. I think he played really solid and well when he had to.

"I wish I could have played a bit better in the finals today.

"There were things I could have done better, but, overall it was a positive week.

"I go away from this feeling good about my chances next week and also at the U.S. Open."

In 16 career meetings Tsonga had beaten the Swiss maestro just five times but three came on the Canadian hard courts.

With Federer appearing in his fifth Canadian final and Tsonga having advanced to at least the semi-finals in three of his four trips to Canada, both men had a cool look of confidence as they walked onto a blazing hot centre court.

In a week of superb performances, Tsonga may have saved his best for last, the second seeded Swiss unable to manage a single break chance the entire match.

Federer did not allow Tsonga many break opportunities himself but the one he did, in the first set, was all the Frenchman needed converting the chance to clinch the set and a 1-0 lead.

Play remained tight in the second with no break points, the set going to a tie-break won by Tsonga, who took four straight points after the breaker had been deadlocked at 3-3

"What is achieved is achieved and I will just continue on this way, continue to work hard," said Tsonga, when asked about his U.S. Open chances. "This win gives me a lot of hope for the rest of the year, of course.

"But I will continue to do my work like I did last couple of months and I hope I will continue to win."

(Editing by Gene Cherry)

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