Stan Wawrinka and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga warm up for French Open with Geneva and Lyon titles
Sunday 28 May 2017 10:26, UK
Stan Wawrinka stormed back from a set down to beat German qualifier Mischa Zverev 4-6 6-3 6-3 and retain the men's title in Geneva on Saturday.
The top-seeded Swiss looked frustrated early on as Zverev, world No 33, broke his serve and went on to take the first set of the final.
In front of a partisan home crowd, Wawrinka, the world No 3 bursted into life and raced to a 3-0 lead in the second, courtesy of some powerful forehands which proved too strong for Zverev.
Wawrinka, who won the French Open in 2015, dropped serve once in the final set but broke Zverev three times, securing the title with another explosive forehand for his first tournament success of the year as he prepares for another Roland Garros campaign.
Victory against Zverev avenged a defeat when Wawrinka last faced him, at another Swiss tournament in Basel last October.
"I would have hated you if you had beaten me in two tournaments," Wawrinka said to his opponent during the post-match ceremony.
Zverev still seeks a first career title at 29. The Russia-born German's second runner-up finish comes more than six years after his first, at Metz in France.
"It was a long week for me," Zverev said. "I have never expected to be in a final in a clay-court tournament."
Meanwhile, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga prepared for the French Open in perfect style by claiming his maiden clay court title, beating Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6(2) 7-5 in the Lyon Open final on Saturday.
Today's victory was Tsonga's fifth win over third-seeded Berdych in thirteen meetings and his second in three meetings on clay.
The second-seeded Frenchman, who was playing his first clay court final, held serve throughout the match and broke decisively in the last game to clinch his 15th ATP title.
"It's fabulous, I couldn't be happier," said Tsonga. "I had a great week after a difficult period on a physical level, picking up a shoulder injury while I was in fine form. It's my first title on clay and even if it comes a little late I'm really happy."
The 13th-ranked French player will move up to 11th in the world in Monday's ATP rankings.
The French Open gets underway on Sunday with Wawrinka facing a first-round clash with Slovakia's Jozef Kovalik while Tsonga will play against Argentina's Renzo Olivo.
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