Tsonga and Sock Make it Two Titles For 2017
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
ATP Marseille
Three of the four semifinalists in Marseille were Frenchmen, and that lead to an all French final as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga edged past Lucas Pouille 6-4 6-4 for his ninth straight match win, and his second straight title after winning Rotterdam the weak prior. A rejuvenated Tsonga eased past Illya Marchenko and Gilles Simon earlier in the week, with his toughest win coming against Nick Kyrgios in three sets.
The 23 year old Pouille snapped a losing streak and defeated Aljaz Bedene, Daniil Medvedev, and Richard Gasquet to reach the final as a bit of a surprise this week. The doubles champions were also French, as Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut beat Robin Haase and Dominic Inglot in the final, needing a third set super tiebreak to do it.
ATP Rio
An eight career ATP title was on tap for Dominic Thiem in Rio. The Austrian captured the 500 level tournament on clay without dropping a set all week. Pablo Carreno Busta was his victim in the final by a score of 7-5 6-4. Thiem also defeated Janko Tipsarevic, Dusan Lajovic, Diego Sebastian Schwartzman, and Albert Ramos over the course of the tournament.
PCB scored wins over Joao Souza, Victor Estrella, Alexandr Dolgopolov, and teenager Casper Ruud to reach the final. The young Ruud was poised to reach the final after winning the second set of their semifinal, but he collapsed in the third set, taking a bagel against the Spaniard. Singles finalist Carreno Busta paired with Pablo Cuevas to win the doubles title over Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
ATP Delray Beach
Unable to physically compete, Milos Raonic dropped out of a slated Delray final with Jack Sock, handing Sock his second title of 2017, this one coming via walkover. Sock has just one loss this season and defeated Radu Albot, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Steve Johnson, and Donald Young to reach the final. His wins over Johnson and Young providing further evidence that he’s clearly the ATP tour’s best American right now.
Raonic defeated Tim Smyczek, Borna Coric, Kyle Edmund, and Juan Martin Del Potro before injuring his back. The Manitoba Missile continues to look good in 2017, but time will tell if the injury sets his season back.
Rajeev Ram and Raven Klaasen paired up to put away veterans Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi in the doubles final.
Tennis Atlantic 