Tsonga and Wawrinka Claim Titles in Run Up to Roland Garros
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
ATP Lyon
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga moved to an excellent 21-5 on the season and claimed his third title this year defeating Tomas Berdych 7-6 7-5 in a nip and tuck singles final that bodes well for both players chances of making deep runs at Roland Garros. The French crowd was delighted by Tsonga’s wins over Carlos Berlocq, Karen Khachanov, and Nikoloz Basilashvili this week, as Tsonga found form and recovered from dropping sets in two of those matches. He also showed he’s healthy. Berdych eased past Hyeon Chung, Gilles Simon, and the dangeorus Milos Raonic, although he’s not among the favorites in Paris he enters the tournament coming off his best tournament this year, and his first final of the season.
Andres Molteni and Adil Shamasdin defeated Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner in the doubles final.
ATP Geneva
Stan Wawrinka won his first title of the season and defended his home triumph last year in Geneva as he came back from a set down to defeat surprise finalist Mischa Zverev 4-6 6-3 6-3. Wawrinka beat Rogerio Dutra Silva, Sam Querrey, and Andrey Kuznetsov as well this week, and although he dropped a couple of sets, the former French Open champion is clearly playing some solid tennis right now. Zverev stormed through qualifying, and on his worst surface (clay), he reached a second career ATP final upsetting John Isner, Steve Johnson, and Kei Nishikori this week and also edging past Robin Haase in round 1. Zverev only had two straight set wins this week, as he was living on the edge.
Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau beat Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the doubles final.
Tennis Atlantic 