ANTWERP, October 22, 2017
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga clinched his fourth ATP World Tour title of the season, a career best, and the 16th of his career by winning Sunday’s final of the European Open in Antwerp against Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-3, 7-5.
The second seed from France sent down eight aces, wining 73 per cent of his first service points to secure victory in one hour and 32 minutes.
Tsonga had captured titles in Lyon, Marseille and Rotterdam earlier this year. The 32-year-old also vaulted himself into contention to make his fourth showing at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 12-19 November at The O2 in London.
“I’m feeling good. It’s always good to win tournaments. I played really good tennis this week. I had a very good opponent today. He gave me a hard time. And I played some of my best tennis today on court,” told Tsonga, who now has 2,055 points in the Emirates ATP Race To London, 550 points behind Pablo Carreno Busta, who currently holds the final qualification spot.
“It’s really good, really positive for me and I hope I will be able to do something even better in the next week.”
Diego Schwartzman was looking to take home his second ATP World Tour title, after winning the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open last year. Schwartzman fell in the 2016 European Open final to Tsonga’s countryman Richard Gasquet.
“I think it was really tough against Jo. He was serving unbelievable today. I am trying always to return but he played better than me. He deserved to win. He’s a big player,” Schwartzman stated.
Lipsky/Sharan Clinch Doubles Title
Maybe Scott Lipsky of the United States and Indian Divij Sharan should play together more often. In their first ATP World Tour tournament together, the pair won the European Open with a 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 victory over Santiago Gonzalez from Mexico and Julio Peralta of Chile. The final lasted 69 minutes.
Two weeks ago, Lipsky/Sharan reached the semi-finals of the ATP Challenger Tour event in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and they raised their level in Belgium, especially in the big moments.
“It was a great match. Those are two great friends of ours, so we’re happy to get through. It was fun to play against them,” Lipsky told.
“It was a great experience, playing here. It’s my first time in Belgium so I really enjoyed it… We had a great time on court. We played four very good matches so we’re really happy,” Sharan added.
