Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in action at the Lyon Open.
Paris: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga polished his preparation for the French Open in style by claiming his maiden claycourt title, beating Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6(2,) 7-5 in the Lyon Open final yesterday.
The second-seeded Frenchman, who was playing his first final on the red dirt, held serve throughout and broke decisively in the last game to clinch his 15th ATP title.
Tsonga's victory on the eve of the claycourt major raised hopes that he may finally end the country's 34-year search for a homegrown male champion at Roland Garros. Yannick Noah was the last Frenchman to lift the Musketeers' Cup in 1983.
Tsonga had gotten off to a poor start in the claycourt season, withdrawing from his second-round match at the Madrid Masters before skipping the Rome Masters with a shoulder injury.
He seems to have recovered well as he produced a solid performance against third seed Berdych, who never found the key to the Frenchman's service.
The Czech had to set points at 5-4, 40-15 on Tsonga's serve, but like he did all week, Tsonga played the big points perfectly.
"It was a very close match. I had a very big chance at the end of the first set when I had two set points, and I think that was the key of the match," said Berdych.
"To win the set, it would put me in a completely different position, but Jo was able to save that, hold that, and I didn't really create many chances after that."
Meanwhile in Strasbourg, Samantha Stosur held her Australian number one ranking yesterday by beating compatriot Daria Gavrilova 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to win the Strasbourg WTA title.
Stosur, 33, has held the top ranking for 450 weeks and would have lost it if she fell to Moscow-born Gavrilova.
Stosur won the Strasbourg title for a second time after 2015 to clinch her ninth career crown and third on clay ahead of her French Open campaign which begins tomorrow against Slovak Kristina Kucova.
The 2011 US Open champion needed 2 hours 45 minutes to get past 23-year-old Gavrilova, her doubles partner at the 2016 Rio Games, who had been bidding for her maiden WTA title.
Gavrilova had been bidding to be the first new Australian number one since Casey Dellacqua held the top spot in October, 2008.
