Simon Ends Tsonga's Reign in Metz

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Simon Ends Tsonga's Reign in Metz

By Chris Oddo/ Sunday, September 22, 2013

After dropping five straight hard court battles with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon took revenge in the Metz final to secure his 11th career title.

Photo Source: Moselle Open

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is France's top-ranked tennis player, but when it comes to titles, Gilles Simon holds the edge.

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Simon defeated Tsonga in the Moselle Open final on Sunday, 6-4, 6-3, to end Tsonga's 11-match winning streak and bid for a three-peat. Tsonga had been out since injuring his left knee at Wimbledon on June 26, but he picked up right where he left off at Metz, notching victories over Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Tobias Kamke and Florian Mayer to reach his third consecutive final at Metz, and 18th of his career.

But his last two victories, each won in three sets, might have taken enough out of the World No. 8 to leave him vulnerable to Simon's grinding game.

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Simon broke twice in each set to come away with the victory, and he ties Guy Forget for second all-time among Open Era Frenchmen with eleven career titles. Yannick Noah's 23 titles tops the list.

Simon did not drop a set all week (he is the 9th ATP player to achieve that feat this season) and will rise to No. 14 in the ATP rankings on Monday. He held serve in 36 of 38 service games during the week, leading all players.

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Tsonga, who was bidding for his 11th career title, was also attempting to become the seventh ATP player to have three-peated at an event in Open Era history. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer, Lleyton Hewitt, Rafael Nadal and Milos Raonic are the six players to have achieved the feat.