tennis

Defending champion Kyrgios into semifinals in Marseille

Published Feb. 24, 2017 5:29 p.m. ET

MARSEILLE, France (AP) Defending champion Nick Kyrgios made light work of Norbert Gombos to reach the Open 13 semifinals on Friday, beating the Slovakian qualifier 6-3, 6-3 in less than an hour.

The third-seeded Australian hit 15 aces and lost just six points on his serve to set up a first career meeting against second-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

''I thought I served and returned really well today,'' Kyrgios said. ''All that matters is that I'm going out there and playing every point hard. I think I'm pretty aggressive on my returns.''

In another dominant performance on serve, Tsonga came out on top in an all-French matchup by defeating two-time champion Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-1. Tsonga broke Simon four times, hit 8 aces and won 73 percent of his first serve points. He saved all three break points.

Tsonga, who won his 13th career title in Rotterdam last week, is bidding to add a third Marseille trophy to his collection following victories in 2009 and 2013.

The other semifinal sees an all-French match between Lucas Pouille and Richard Gasquet.

The fourth-seeded Pouille had 15 aces in a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win against Russian Daniil Medvedev.

No. 6 Richard Gasquet rallied to beat No. 1 Gael Monfils 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2 in another all-French match, winning for the sixth time in their 13 career meetings.

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