By Chris Oddo | Friday February 24, 2017
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sailed past Gilles Simon for his seventh straight win to book a semifinal with Nick Kyrgios in Marseille.
Photo Source: Pascal Guyot/AFP
Jo-wilfried Tsonga won for the seventh consecutive time on Friday, taking down compatriot Gilles Simon, 6-4, 6-1, at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille.Tsonga saved all three break points he faced to improve to 8-3 vs. Simon lifetime and 15-3 on the season.
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The 31-year-old won Rotterdam without dropping a set last week and he is a two-time Marseille champion.
Tsonga’s next battle promises to feature a lot of high-octane tennis. He’ll face defending champion Nick Kyrgios, who defeated Slovakian qualifier Norbert Gombos, 6-3, 6-3.
Kyrgios has now won all 14 sets he has played in Marseille. Last year he defeated Richard Gasquet, Marin Cilic and Tomas Berdych en route to the title.
On Friday he hammered 15 aces and dropped just two of 31 first-serve points to clinch his victory in 58 minutes.
In Friday’s third quarterfinal Lucas Pouille edged out Daniil Medvedev, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, to reach the semis. Pouille produced an electric forehand winner and soon after broke critically in the final set for a 5-4 lead. He served out the match in the next game to book his first semi of the season.
There will be three French quarterfinalists in Marseille, as Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet are currently battling in the last quarterfinal of the day.