Wawrinka beats Zverev, retains Geneva Open title

Tsonga warms up for Roland Garros with Lyon day breakthrough

GENEVA, May 27, (Agencies): Stan Wawrinka warmed up for the French Open by retaining his home Geneva Open title on Saturday, beating Mischa Zverev 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The top-seeded Wawrinka clinched by breaking serve with a fierce forehand crosscourt pass to beat left-hander Zverev’s advance to the net.

Wawrinka’s first title in 2017 is the 16th of his career, and the seventh on clay including the 2015 French Open. The Swiss is the No. 3 seed at Roland Garros, and first plays the 152nd-ranked Josef Kovalik of Slovakia.

Victory against the 33rd-ranked Zverev avenged a loss when Wawrinka last faced him, at the previous Swiss event on tour in Basel in October.

“I would have hated you if you had beaten me in two tournaments,” Wawrinka quipped to his opponent in the post-match ceremonies.

Zverev, who came through qualifying, still seeks a first career title at age 29. The Russia-born German’s second runner-up finish comes more than six years after his first, at Metz, France.

“It was a long week for me,” Zverev said. “I have never expected to be in a final in a clay-court tournament.”

Using serve-and-volley skills too rarely seen in modern tennis, Zverev took control of the first set after he and Wawrinka traded three straight breaks of serve.

Zverev served for the set at 5-3, and trailed 0-30 before reeling off four straight points including two volley winners. Wawrinka quickly found trouble to begin the second set, then rallied from 0-40 down to hold serve and forced a break in the next game.

Zverev saved two set points when trailing 5-2 on his serve and made Wawrinka serve out for the set.

In the decider, Wawrinka put constant pressure on Zverev’s serve and clinched with a third break.

Zverev has earned the No. 32 seeding at the French Open, which begins on Sunday, and could play defending cham-

Stanislas ‘Stan’ Wawrinka of Switzerland kisses the trophy after beating Mischa Zverev of Germany in the final match of the Geneva Open tennis

tournament in Geneva, Switzerland on May 27. (AP)

pion Novak Djokovic in the third round.

In Lyon, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga warmed up for the French Open by winning his first clay title in Lyon on Saturday, a 7-6 (7/2), 7-5 victory over Czech Thomas Berdych.

France’s Tsonga, seeded second, hit 13 aces to claim his third title after Marseille and Rotterdam -- both on hard court -- a record for him in a season.

The 32-year-old Tsonga will open his campaign at Roland Garros -- where he twice reached the semi-finals -- against Argentine Renzo Olivo, a first round casualty in Lyon. “It’s fabulous, I couldn’t be happier,” said Tsonga. “I had a great week after a difficult period on a physical level, picking up a shoulder injury while I was in fine form.

“It’s my first title on clay and even if it comes a little late I’m really happy.”

The 13th-ranked French player will move up to 11th in the world in Monday’s ATP rankings.

It was Tsonga’s fifth win over thirdseeded Berdych in thirteen meetings and his second in three meetings on clay.

Berdych, ranked 14th and the holder of 13 ATP titles, missed the chance to convert two set points while he lead 5-4, 40-15 on his serve in the first set.

In Strasbourg, France, Sam Stosur rallied past fellow Australian Daria Gavrilova 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to win the Strasbourg International on Saturday and remain the top player in her country.

Gavrilova, who was chasing her first WTA title at the French Open warmup, would also have dethroned Stosur as the Australian No. 1 player with a win.

Stosur made the decisive break for a 4-2 lead in the decider after Gavrilova double-faulted. The 2011 US Open champion served out to love to finish the nearly three-hour final.

Stosur has been the Australian No. 1 for 450 straight weeks, since October 2008.

In Berlin, Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands won Nuremberg’s WTA claycourt tournament for the second year in a row after her 6-2, 6-1 victory over Barbora Krejcikova in Saturday’s final.

The 25-year-old Bertens, ranked 19th in the world, was never troubled by the Czech Republic’s Krejcikova.

Bertens needed just 56 minutes to wrap up the title without losing a single set in any of her five matches and which she adds to her victory at Nuremberg last year.

Her third WTA win is the perfect build-up to the French Open, which starts on Sunday.

Bertens reached the semi-finals of Roland Garros last year -- her best result at a Grand Slam tournament to date -- where she eventually lost to Serena Williams.