METZ, September 23, 2019

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga became the first man to claim four titles at the Moselle Open in Metz. The 34-year-old Frenchman fought past Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, who was aiming to capture his maiden title on the ATP Tour, 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-3 in Sunday’s singles final.

Tsonga fired 19 aces, won 92 per cent of his first-service points and saved the only break point he faced. The World No. 61 gained the decisive break in the third set to prevail after two hours and 47 minutes.

🇫🇷 FOUR-MIDABLE 🇫🇷@tsonga7 claims his fourth title at the @MoselleOpen – defeating Bedene 6-7 7-6 6-3 in Metz! pic.twitter.com/MOSh07FY7i

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) September 22, 2019

“Mentally, I was very strong. I served really well when I needed to,” said Tsonga, as quoted on the ATP Tour website. “The match was not easy at all. Aljaz was playing really well and it was a long match, I am definitely happy to win here again.”

By lifting his 10th of his 18 ATP career trophies on home soil, Tsonga earned 250 ATP Ranking points and collected €90,390 in prize money. Bedene pocketed 150 ATP Ranking points and received €48,870.

“I only lost serve twice this week, so that is probably the best serving week of my career,” said Bedene. “I had chances today. I had a set, 4-3 and a break point. He served well and I picked the wrong side, but it was close and it could have gone either way. I am disappointed. I wanted to win, but I am also happy with the week.”

Lindstedt/Struff claim maiden team trophy

Earlier in the day, Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Jan-Lennard Struff from Germany took the doubles crowns. The duo upset the tournament’s No. 1 seeds Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 2-6, 7-6(1), 10-4. The final lasted one hour and 29 minutes.

“I am very happy. It was a lot of fun to play with Robert. He is playing very good,” said Struff. “We worked very good as a team this week, with some tight matches earlier in the week… I am really happy that he played this week and I am very, very happy about the win.”

Lindstedt added: “It’s been a great week. I am really happy Struff asked me to play… It was a no-brainer for me to say yes. We had a really good first round with an unbelievable fight in the tie-break. Coming through such a tight match really helped us for the rest of the matches when the points were tight and we played our best tennis at that time.”