It will be an all-French final at the Open 13 when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Lucas Pouille go head-to-head for the second time in their careers on Sunday afternoon. Their only previous encounter came last summer on the clay courts of Monte-Carlo, where Tsonga cruised 6-4, 6-4.
Pouille, despite the aforementioned setback, was playing the best tennis of his career at that time. Now, though, it is Tsonga who is in nothing short of ruthless form. The 11th-ranked Frenchman is 16-3 this season and looking for back-to-back titles, having triumphed at last week’s 500-point tournament in Rotterdam. There is no better place than Marseille for Tsonga to maintain momentum, and that is exactly what he has done through three matches. The No. 2 seed is 21-5 lifetime at this event following victories over Illya Marchenko, Gilles Simon, and Nick Kyrgios.
Pouille, on the other hand, had been a dreadful 1-3 this season before suddenly turning things around in Marseille. The 23-year-old, already up to 17th in the world, punched his ticket to the title match by beating Aljaz Bedene, Daniil Medvedev, and Richard Gasquet.
This, however, is likely where Pouille’s successful run comes to an end. Not only is Tsonga playing far more consistent tennis than his younger compatriot in 2017, but he must also feel right at home in the Marseille final. The former world No. 5 is playing on championship Sunday for the fourth time at this tournament and he has already lifted the winner’s trophy twice.
Tsonga will likely have too much experience and too much power with his serve and forehand for Pouille.
Pick: Tsonga in 2
[polldaddy poll=9674366]
WWW?
Tsame.
I liked Tsonga to beat Kyrgios and I am sticking with him to win the final in 2 sets, same as Ricky.
Nny,
Here’s the draw link (where to register)
http://www.tennisdrawchallenge.com/
then join jalep_wildguess
http://www.tennisdrawchallenge.com/group
Congrats to welshwitch picking Tsonga… and manwerty picking Elina Svitolina! Wow…haven’t seen the WTA final yet but I’m surprised! Svitolina didn’t look confident enough in the SF match with Kerber.
Haven’t seen the Tsonga SF. Ruud and PCB are on TC. Casper Ruud is freaking unbelievable!
Just register, pick a bracket then join as many groups as you want — just be sure to join jalep_wildguess 😉
sorry…I got distracted and repeated myself ^^
rc,
I am never sure if I did it right. I did register and then went to the other link that you gave.
I picked ATP.
Can you check and see if I am in there?
Thanks!
Nny,
I checked and see 6 people in jalep_wildguess group.
Maybe I posted the wrong link. Try this one
http://www.tennisdrawchallenge.com/group/list
The link gives you the entire list of groups. If clicked on the group and selected the blue “join group” option, you should be in.
Maybe your name won’t show up until the tournament starts since this is your first bracket. Should be showing 7 in the group.
rc,
I did it again and clicked “join group”. I got a message that I have joined.
I am sorry to make you go to this trouble. I guess that I am challenged when it comes to joining brackets!
Nny!!Come join us on jalep wildguess,then we’re both can kick rc and margot’s backside!or they’re both will kick us!!hehehe!
MA,
I joined today! This is going to be fun! It’s the one place where I can chat with Margot in the comments!
Let’s get this party started!
?
YAY!!!!GOOD JOB Nny!!WOOOOHOOOO!!!Then watch out rc and margot dear!!A tips…just put a lot of paddle on your backside please!Me and Nny practicing a scissor atm!Yeah!!!
Tsonga in two
Hope alison will join our group soon!The more the merrier!C’mon Ali…don’t have much time left…
Ratcliff what are the benefits of joining the tennis draw challenge?
Ratcliff you look beautiful, how can I upload my own pics.
I have picked jo-wilfried tsonga throughout these tournament and I also picked him in Rotterdam as well.
I think he might win but his odd is too low at 1.32, picking him in straight sets is at 1.98 and picking him to win 1 set & match is at 1.68.
But for some reason I can’t exercise full confidence in him having picked him to defeat N. Kyrgios, D. Goffin and so many good player’s you would think I would pick him In a heartbeat.
But I can’t, I don’t know whether is because of the ice cream I had yesterday with good friend of mine, I tell you ice cream & women are not a good combination the make you think about lovely things & happy ever after’s or because of what Lucas pouille did to R. Gasquet yesterday that guy cost me a lot of money, if I ever met him am going to shake his hand & bite his ear. Shake his hand for being an excellent player & bite his ear for costing me good money. In one slip I picked r. Gasquet to win it failed, in the 2nd slip I picked over 22.5 games it failed= 21 games in total and in the 3rd sip I picked over 9.5 games in 1 set it came through= 12 games in total but I still lost because I added Cleveland cavaliers to defeat Chicago bulls they lost 99-117 and in the other slips I handicapped Chicago bulls not to lose by double digits it came through but R.gasquet & the over games failed me.
Today I want to be extremely careful, so I need your help what are your picks so I can compare it with mine b4 the matches start.
I am picking T. Babos to defeat L. Safarova.
G. Muller to defeat P. Kohlschreiber is that a right pick or should i go with the over 22.5.
What about A. Murray to win & over 17.5 games at 1.83 odd vs M.jaziri or should I go with the under, the line is just too low at 17.5 games.
Does J. Sock have a chance or would M. Raonic destroy him, should I go with the over 22.5 games or the over 9.5 games in 1 set or should I take Milos in 2, but to be honest with you I don’t see J. Sock losing in 2 he might take a set or even win but it’s too risky to pick Jack the h2h is too discouraging.
What about R. Federer vs B. Paire I know Roger would win but his odd is too low at 1.07 so am looking at the over/under 19.5 games, B. Paire can win 8 games can’t he?
D. Them vs P. Carreno am going with the over 21.5 games Dominic has not defeated Pablo in straight sets b4, i might also pick D. Thiem to win but not in straight sets not saying he can’t win in straight sets but I prefer the over because if Pablo wins am not affected if D. Them competes.
Am picking other games in Dubai I didn’t mention, so plzzzz let me know what you think your comments & picks would be appreciated and carefully examined.
Thank you in advance!
Stanley.
My comment is do you believe in evolution Creepy?
Thiem will CRUSH Pablo
Nice week so far and nice finals.
Tsonga looks solid and title seems inevitable but I wouldn’t bet on him at that price. Pouille is playing irregular tennis but he has enough power to beat anybody. His price is valuable for me and I would take it to sell it at 2.25 or so.
If we look at the form, Tsonga is the winner by far. But if we look at stats, Tsonga is on long a winning streak and all of them must come to an end. Winning consecutive titles is not a joke in the ATP Tour. I don’t remember the last player who did it.
I wouldn’t pick Muller vs Kohlschreiber at that price, as Muller works mostly in very specific events and Dubai is not among them.
Sock won’t be destroyed. First set could go to a tie-break and he could even win it. Over is good to me.
Paire can make 8 games to Roger, i think he can. He could even win the first set and then fall on one of his routine psycho-matches
For today, Klaasen/Ram to beat Huey/Mirnyi looks like a pretty good bet @1.61, as does Janowicz to beat Halys @1.36.
Like the doubles play
Never bet on Richard Gasquet in big games, when he faces off against other big-name players. For some reason he tends to capitulate in most of these.
Pouille isn’t a big name yet
‘Pouille isn’t a big name yet’
My point exactly. Be very careful whenever you pick Gasquet.
Thanks roger i appreciate your advise, i adjusted some of my games but i finally decided to pick jo-wilfried tsonga to win & over 22.5 games at 2.66 odd.
Wish me luck.
Hope you lose everything.
Do you believe in pro-choice and evolution?
You should stick to single bets in future, Stanley. I would have gone for Tsonga just to win instead of the double bet due to the lower risk though the odds were lower.
Thanks everyone lets all work together in the next tournament, who knows we might hit the jackpot & believe me am going to hit so hard until it hurts.
#Amoptimistic
#Oneteam
Creepy stanley.