Berdych, Tsonga roll into Marseille final

Published January 13, 2015

Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were easy semifinal winners Saturday and will meet for the title at the Open 13 tennis event.

The top-seeded Berdych needed just 54 minutes to dispose of Russia's Dmitry Tursunov in a 6-2, 6-1 rout, while the third-seeded Tsonga had to play nine minutes longer to topple fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon, 6-2, 6-2.

Berdych broke serve twice in each set Saturday and won 25 of his 27 first- serve points. The Czech star improved to 6-1 lifetime against Tursunov.

Tsonga broke serve four times and won the final five games of his semifinal. He will try for his second title in Marseille, having previously won in 2009.

Simon, the 2007 Marseille winner, had knocked off defending champ Juan Martin del Potro in Friday's quarterfinals.

Berdych will carry an 8-8 record in finals into Sunday's matchup. He was 2-2 last year and had not been past the quarterfinals in either of his two starts in 2013, including a quarterfinal loss to eventual champion Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.

Tsonga is 9-7 lifetime in title matches, including a 2-2 mark in 2012. He was coming off a first-round loss in Rotterdam entering this week after a quarterfinal loss to Roger Federer in the Aussie Open.

Berdych is 4-1 against Tsonga, including three wins in as many matchups last year. Their only previous meeting in a final came last year in Stockholm, a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 Berdych victory.

Sunday's champion will earn a first prize of $125,000.

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