Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made the French final in Vienna perfect: The winner of 2011 beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 7:6 (4) and 7:5 and will meet fellow countryman Lucas Pouille on Sunday.
By Jens Huiber from the Vienna City Hall
“He loves Austria, and Austria loves him,” said the hall spokesman, welcoming one of the two players before the second semi-final. This would apply both to Philipp Kohlschreiber and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: the Frenchman is a favourite of many fans, won in Vienna in 2011. Kohlschreiber has been living in Kitzbühel, Austria for a few years now, where the longstanding German number one has won the ATP tournament this summer.
Tsonga defeated Kohlschreiber in a close match after 1:46 hours with 7:6 (4) and 7:5 and is in the final of Vienna like last year. At that time, the Frenchman had lost to Andy Murray.
Kohlschreiber said that the statistics before the match were unpleasantly negative, and the Augsburg-born player could only win one of eleven matches, 2009 was? Kohlschreiber had to change something – and he did, too, acting more aggressively than usual, looking for the way forward at every good opportunity. And this is mostly successful. In any case, Kohlschreiber scored a break to make it 3-2, and Tsonga countered immediately. Until the tie-break we had to serve, Tsonga used a small weakness of Kohlschreiber, got the first set.
In the second act, the opponents did not give each other anything, served up to 5:5 sovereignly. Especially the Frenchman, who ended up with 17 aces. In the eleventh game Tsonga broke to zero, Philipp Kohlschreiber should only make one more point.
For Tsonga, Sunday is his 17th birthday. Title on the ATP tour, the fifth this year after the victories in Rotterdam, Marseille, Lyon and last week in Antwerp. He leads against Lucas Pouille in the direct balance sheet with 2:0 victories. It is therefore an ideal basis for adding another chapter to the mutual love story between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Austria.
Here the single tableau in Vienna