Berdych, Tsonga land in Open 13 semis

Published January 13, 2015

Top seed Tomas Berdych and former champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were a pair of hard-fought quarterfinal winners Friday at the $700,000 Open 13 tennis event.

The former Wimbledon runner-up Berdych snuck past seventh-seeded rising Pole Jerzy Janowicz 6-3, 6-7 (0-7), 6-3 in 1 hour, 54 minutes on the indoor surface at Palais des Sports.

The big-hitting match featured 27 aces, including 17 from the 6-foot-8 loser, who was unable to break his Czech counterpart on Day 5. Berdych managed a pair of key breaks en route to victory.

Berdych's semifinal opponent on Saturday will be Russian qualifier Dmitry Tursunov.

Meanwhile, the third-seeded French crowd favorite Tsonga fought back to secure his semifinal berth, as the former Australian Open runner-up outlasted Aussie Bernard Tomic 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (12-10) in 2 hours, 5 minutes. Tsonga, who captured this event in 2009, pumped out 19 aces on Friday.

The aforementioned Tursunov held off Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 7-6 (9-7), 1-6, 7-5 to reach the final four.

The 2013 Marseille champion will earn $125,000.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/berdych-tsonga-land-in-open-13-semis