'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wgARCAAKAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFgABAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABQQG/9oACAEBAAAAABypcX//xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA/9oACAECEAAAAH//xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAB/9oACAEDEAAAAD//xAAkEAACAgEDAwUBAAAAAAAAAAABAgMEBQAGEQchIhMWIyRBQv/aAAgBAQABPwDpRtGrlbWUr5/IX6FuWJ2OLBXn0XRVLyc91P8AK/vA1kfamMyFqgMNvD6srQfHZrlfE8diRrak8tDqBuyehK9acQLxJCxRvJFLdxq3YmsW5pp5ZJZpHZ3d2LMzE8kk/p1//8QAFxEAAwEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAERA//aAAgBAgEBPwBZ1U//xAAXEQEAAwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAMx/9oACAEDAQE/AG52f//Z'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The Open 13 in Marseille reached a fitting climax with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga setting up a Sunday date with Tomas Berdych that promises to make for an intriguing encounter between evenly matched players. In almost similar fashion, both players brushed aside their respective opponents with clinical ease to advance to the final. The top seeded Berdych needed less than an hour for the 6-2, 6-1 victory to put an end to the charmed week of Dmitry Tursunov, who came through the qualifiers. Tsonga was equally fluent against his compatriot Gilles Simon in a 6-2, 6-2 victory that took a shade more than an hour.
The Czech had never been past the quarter-finals in Marseille in four previous attempts, but has been having a fairly easy week as he carved his way into the finals this year. Tursunov was a former top 20 player, but his last semi-final appearance came in June 2011. Berdych offered the 119th ranked Russian a harsh reminder of the gap to the top even as the Moscowite continues his trek up the recovery trail. Berdych’s dominance was best explained by the numbers that made up the first set – he won all 16 of his service points, while taking every second point of his opponent’s serve to race away with the first set.
The runaway victory seemed minutes away at 4-0 in the second, but Tursunov finally offered a semblance of resistance – but Berdych was alert to the danger as he snuffed out both the break points to retain a stranglehold over the lopsided contest. Overall, Berdych won 65% of the points in the match indicating the supreme dominance of the Czech over Tursunov.
In the other semi-final Tsonga outplayed the 2007 champion Gilles Simon to reach his 16th career final and the second at Marseille. Tsonga had won the title at this tournament in 2009. Tsonga will look to improve his standing against the fiercely powerful Berdych in their seventh tour level meeting. The Czech has a 4-2 edge over his opponent.
Tsonga was a surprisingly easy winner over Simon. The world No.8 turned on a stellar show against the clueless Simon who folded rather meekly to present an abject picture of surrender. Tsonga won nearly half of Simon’s first serve points to constantly pile pressure on the world No. 13 and earn as many as ten break points. The flamboyant man converted four of those chances, while saving all three break points faced to clinch an easy victory. It was a match in stark contrast for Tsonga, who led a charmed existence to save five match points before putting it past Bernard Tomic in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, Tsonga won the last five games to advance through to the finals in a big rush.
Meanwhile, the doubles final shall be contested between erstwhile team members, now playing with different partners. Rohan Bopanna and Colin Fleming were made to work in the first set by Julian Knowle and Filip Polasek, before the Indo-Brit pair eased into the finals with a 7-5, 6-1 victory on Friday night. Bopanna-Fleming will play the top seeded Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer on Sunday for their first title together. Qureshi-Rojer outsmarted the pairing of Nicholas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 6-1 in less than an hour.
