It will be an all-French final when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon collide on Sunday in Metz. Both men are looking for their 11th career ATP title.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon will be facing each other for the eighth time in their careers and for the second time this season when they battle for the Moselle Open title on Sunday.
Their only previous meeting this season also came on indoor hard courts in France, with Tsonga dominating a Marseille semifinal showdown 6-2, 6-2. Tsonga leads the overall head-to-head series 5-2 and he is 5-0 against Simon on hard courts. Simon won clay-court clashes in 2008 and 2012.
Both players are making comebacks from knee injuries. Simon had not played since a Cincinnati first-round retirement, but he is back on track in Metz. The 16th-ranked Frenchman did not lose a single set in victories over Kenny De Schepper, Sam Querrey, and Nicolas Mahut on his way to the final. He is a respectable 32-20 for the season.
“Today was a very good match for me,” Simon assured after beating Mahut 6-3, 7-6(2) on Saturday. “I broke him early and was solid from the baseline. I’ve been practicing for a month before coming back here. I needed to do that and I think that today was a pretty solid match.”
Tsonga has not been quite as impressive this week, with dropped sets to Tobias Kamke and Florian Mayer (he opened with a straight-set scalp of Edouard Roger-Vasselin). Still, the eighth-ranked Frenchman did well to battle back from a set down against both Kamke and Mayer. Tsonga, who had been out since Wimbledon, is 33-11 for the year with a title in Marseille.
Something will have to give in this one, because Simon has an edge in form this week but Tsonga obviously has a massive advantage on hard courts–especially indoors. This may come down to the top seed’s serve. If he makes a high percentage, he will be able to dictate play and hold enough times to make up for his relatively pedestrian return of serve. If his first delivery is off the mark, Simon’s ability to play his way into points and his expert defense will be too much for Tsonga.
Pick: Simon in 3
[polldaddy poll=7414768]
Just noticed I misspelt your name Shireling.
wc0206@1.05pm
The more knowledgeable tennis fans may not have backed Tsonga as a future star but I well remember a very knowledgeable journalist predicting great things for Gulbis circa 2008!
To be fair to Tsonga, he has been in the top 10 ever since (apart from a spell in ’11 when he was out for a lot of the time with injuries) and his wins against Federer at Wimbledon and Roland Garros were both memorable matches.
I remember well the multiple references comparing Tsonga to Ali. Much of it had to do with the physical resemblance. On American broadcasts, his similarity in appearance to Ali, it seemed, was mentioned at every single match. Here’s a BBC article from back in 2007 making the comparison. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/6251460.stm