Tsonga defeats Goffin to clinch 13th career title

ROTTERDAM: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga clinched his 13th career title on Sunday, rallying from a set down to beat David Goffin of Belgium 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the final of the World Tennis Tournament.

The sixth-seeded Frenchman hit 10 aces and, although he dropped his serve twice, he broke the third-seeded Goffin’s serve four times.

Tsonga, ranked 14, lost the final here in Rotterdam six years ago. His previous title also came on indoor hardcourts in Metz, France, two years ago.

He improved to 4-2 overall in career meetings against the 11thranked Goffin, who won both of his career titles in 2014.

The 31-year-old Tsonga reached the milestone of 400 career wins this week, and victory in the final was his 401st.

LOSANGELES: American Ryan Harrison and Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili, unseeded players seeking their first ATP titles, advanced to the Memphis Open final with straight-set triumphs on Saturday.

Harrison, ranked 62nd, ousted compatriot Donald Young 6-4, 6-4 while Basilashvili, ranked a career-high 67th, won for the ninth time in 10 matches, downing Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6 (7/5), 6-1. The two finalists will meet for the first time.

Basilashvili defeated world No 8 Dominic Thiem last week en route to the semi-finals in Sofia, where he lost to eventual champion Grigor Dimitrov.

The Georgian’s only prior ATP final came in last July’s Austrian Open, where he lost to Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi.

Harrison had lost in all five prior ATP semi-final appearances, most recently in 2015 at Acapulco to Spain’s David Ferrer.

Basilashvili blasted five aces, had no double faults and won 75 percent of his first-serve points to win in one hour, 46 minutes.

BUENOS AIRES: Japanese top seed Kei Nishikori reached his second final of 2017 with a gruelling 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq at the Buenos Aires clay court tournament.

World No 5 Nishikori needed two hours 45 minutes to see off wild card Berlocq, the 34-yearold world No 77 to set-up a Sunday title showdown against Ukraine’s Aleksandr Dolgopolov who beat Spanish fourth seed Pablo Carreno-Busta 7-5, 6-2.

Nishikori made the final on hard court in Brisbane in January but was beaten by Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in three sets.

The 27-year-old will be chasing his 12th career title on Sunday and third on clay after triumphs in Barcelona in 2014 and 2015. Dolgopolov, 28, has not dropped a set all week to reach his seventh ATP final.