David Goffin and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be facing each other for the sixth time in their careers when they battle for the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament title on Sunday.
Tsonga is leading the head-to-head series 3-2, but Goffin won their only previous hard-court encounter–also indoors–via a 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 decision three years ago in Metz. They have not squared off since a pair of 2015 meetings, the first of which went Tsonga’s way 6-3, 6-4 at the Monte-Carlo Masters before Goffin got the job done 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 a few weeks later in Rome.
Although neither man has lifted a winner’s trophy in 2017, they have been two of the most consistent players since the turn of the calendar. Two of Goffin’s three losses have come at the hands of a red-hot Grigor Dimitrov, so it is obvious that a sparkling performance is required in order to beat him. The 11th-ranked Belgian, who will reach the top 10 for the first time in his career on Monday, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and he is coming off a runner-up performance last week in Sofia (lost to Dimitrov both times). He punched his ticket to another final thanks to Rotterdam victories over Andrey Kuznetsov, Robin Haase, Dimitrov, and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
Tsonga is an identical 12-3 this season, with a quarterfinal showdown in Melbourne and a semifinal finish last week in Montpellier. The 14th-ranked Frenchman is through to the Rotterdam title match by virtue of straight-set wins at the expense of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Gilles Muller, Marin Cilic, and Tomas Berdych.
Since showing signs of vulnerability against Tsitsipas (lost serve three times, did not save a single break point), Tsonga has been dominant on serve. Goffin, though, is a much better returner than Muller, Cilic, and Berdych–and Tsitsipas, for that matter. The conditions should be slow enough for the No. 3 seed to play his way into enough baseline rallies to eventually break down Tsonga’s groundstrokes.
Pick: Goffin in 3
[polldaddy poll=9668422]
who ya got?
Goffin in 3
about at 50 50 as it gets
Tsonga in three
Goffin In my eyes is a fly…he never goes away and I have to give him respect for knocking down dimitrov yet he has played lots of tennis. This will no doubt go the distance and will be a great match.
Well done to Goffin for beating Dimi!
This final is very tough to call. I like Tsonga, but Goffin could win. I think it’s a toss up.
I will stick with Tsonga in 3 sets.
Dang, I hope you are right about Goffin and I am wrong about Tsonga in 2.
Who does anyone have for winning the WTA title in Dubai?! That’s the question.
😀 Basilashvili!
Goffin in 3
Also, Goffin actually beat Tsonga in Rome, whereas you had Tsonga winning both of their matches.
Sorry, that just bothered me.
Thanks!
Goffin in three .
The bookies give a slight edge to Tsonga to win this final. I hope they got it wrong this time.
A win for David would increase his rankings points over the last 52 weeks to a level of 3.445 points, which is better than Jo-Wilfried Tsonga ever could arrive at since september 2013.
I hope David feels well today and plays at his best level. That should be enough to get the win.
I would love to see D. Goffin win the trophy at rotterdam, but i don’t think that would happen.
Tsonga has been amazing at this tournament, he hasn’t dropped a set against good player’s that serve well like G. Muller, M. Cilic, & T. Berdych and i think he could win in straight sets.
My heart wants D. Goffin to win but my head say’s Jo-Wilfried tsonga wins. If you twist my arm to pick a winner i would say DavidTsonga would win.
On a serious note my pick is tsonga in 2 at 2.67 odd or the match ends in 3sets at 2.15 odd.
D. Goffin does not have the balls to win in straight sets he could win in 3 but i don’t think that would happen.
What’s your take on this?
My take is that you’re a fascist lover.
Good match. Congrats to Tsonga for the title; congrats too to Goffin, first time into the top ten.
Yes it was a good match.
Court conditions were very slow which helped Goffin make it somewhat close until the third set.
Tsonga so many times set up a point only to hit an unforced error. Would have liked to see him come to net more.
But eventually he won anyway.
Happy that the more agressive guy won.
I stayed with Tsonga and he got the win. Congratulations to him! Well done to Goffin for gettIng in the top ten!