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Published January 13, 2015
Top-seeded and two-time defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and his second-seeded fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon secured spots in Saturday's semifinals at the $545,000 Moselle Open tennis event.
The former Australian Open runner-up Tsonga continued his winning ways at this event by overcoming German Tobias Kamke 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, while the 2010 Metz champion Simon got past sixth-seeded American Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) on the indoor hardcourts at Parc des Expositions.
Tsonga repeated as the titlist here last year by besting Italian Andreas Seppi in the final.
Up next for the flashy Frenchman will be eighth-seeded German Florian Mayer, while the 16th-ranked former top-10 star Simon's final-four opponent will be fellow countryman Nicolas Mahut, who handled German Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-4 in Friday's quarterfinal action. The 31-year-old Mahut already owns a pair of titles on the ATP World Tour this season.
Mayer won Friday's nightcap by outlasting Argentine Carlos Berlocq 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.
Three of the four semifinalists here hail from France.
The 2013 Metz champion will collect $98,000.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/tsonga-simon-reach-semis-on-home-soil