CASSIS, September 6, 2019

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga climbed one step closer to winning his first ATP Challenger Tour since 2007 by reaching the semi-finals of the Cassis Open Provence. The top seed from France edged past French teenager Rayane Roumane 7-6(6), 6-3 on Friday afternoon.

Tsonga, who lifted his last trophy at this level on grass at Surbiton, sent down six aces and won 85 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after one hour and 17 minutes. The 34-year-old wild card entry will next take on No. 5 seed Mikael Ymer of Sweden. The World No. 107 defeated Dmitry Popko from Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 49 minutes.

In the bottom half of the draw of the €46,600 hard-court event, Lukas Rosol held off last week’s Mallorca Challenger champion Emil Ruusuvori of Finland. The Czech veteran capitalized on four of his five break point chance to secure a 6-2, 7-5 victory in one hour and three minutes. Rosol will face Dudi Sela in the stage of the final four. The 11th seed from Israel won 6-4, 6-4 against Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan. The encounter lasted one hour and 22 minutes.