Former champions Simon and Tsonga in Open de Moselle final
METZ, France (AP) Gilles Simon will face fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Sunday's Open de Moselle final, with both men looking for a historic third victory in Metz.
Both won in straight sets on Saturday, with Simon beating Martin Klizan of Slovakia 6-4, 6-4 and Tsonga easing past Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 6-4 to set up a replay of the 2013 final which Simon won.
Simon's semifinal victory was not as straightforward as the scoreline suggests.
Klizan, seeded sixth, broke first with a delightful return from the baseline but Simon reacted immediately with two successive breaks, much to the delight of the home crowd.
The second seed then found himself 3-0 down in the second set, but won the next five games. Kohlschreiber was so frustrated he broke his racket.
Tsonga dominated his match and cruised into the final in little more than an hour.
The third seed hit 13 aces and enjoyed a 74 percent first serve rate against fifth seed Kohlschreiber, who did not have a single break chance.
Kohlschreiber had a mere 47 per cent success on his first serve and gave up two of the three break points he conceded.
Simon clinched his titles in the northeastern city in 2010 and 2013, with Tsonga winning the two years in between.
Tsonga leads 6-3 in their head-to-head meetings.
