LYON, May 27, 2017
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won his first clay-court crown and his 15th overall ATP World Tour title, lifting the trophy at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon.
The Frenchman defeated Tomas Berdych from the Czech Republic 7-6, 7-5 in Saturday’s final. Tsonga fired 13 aces, saved both break points he faced converting one of his own to prevail in one hour and 47 minutes. Tsonga improved to 3-0 in title matches this season, having also won back-to-back indoor titles at Rotterdam and Marseille in February.
“Today was my best match of the week. I served very wel,l which allowed me to relax a little bit during the returning game,” told Tsonga, who has never won more than three titles in a season. He also won a trio of titles in 2009. The Frenchman joins an elite group of ATP World Tour players who have already claimed three crowns this year: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and #NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev.
“I am very happy. First title on clay court. It is now added to my CV and I can move on. I am going to enjoy this title today and tomorrow. It has been a great week overall,”
Tomas Berdych enjoyed the best week of his season, reaching his first final of the year and his first since winning the Shenzhen Open last October. The right-hander falls to 13-18 in tour-level finals and 2-6 in clay-court title matches.
“It was a great experience. It was a very nice week. Very calm, a lot of people, which is nice. I played four matches, which is good, that’s why I came… One more win and it would be absolutely perfect, but that’s all right. Head’s up and let’s go to Paris,” Berdych told, playing his first round match at Roland-Garros against Jan-Lennard Struff.
Molteni/Shamasdin Win First Team Title
Argentine Andres Molteni and Canadian Adil Shamasdin, playing together for the first time, won 82 per cent of their first-serve points to overcome Marcus Daniell from New Zealand and Marcelo Demoliner of Brazil 6-3, 3-6, 10-5 to take the Lyon doubles title. The final lasted one hour and 22 minutes.
The title is Molteni’s second ATP World Tour doubles crown and Shamasdin’s third.
“I think we have good energy together. We’re playing good, we’re playing aggressive. We are really happy today to win our first title,” Molteni said.
“It’s a beautiful city here Lyon. I think all players have had a great time here. The crowds are amazing,” Shamasdin added.
