ROTTERDAM: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga engineered a comeback to defeat David Goffin 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Sunday and earn a first career title at the World Tennis Tournament.
The French sixth seed, who lost the 2011 final to Robin Soderling, took just under two hours to beat Belgian third seed Goffin, playing his second final in as many weeks after losing in Sofia last Sunday to Grigor Dimitrov.
Tsonga earned his fourth victory over Goffin, who at least had the consolation of knowing he will be the first Belgian man to crack the world top 10 after his efforts in Rotterdam.
Tsonga will move back to 11th in the rankings on Monday after claiming his first ATP 500 series title since Vienna in 2011 when he beat Juan Martin del Potro.
On Saturday, Tsonga chalked up his 400th career victory in beating Czech Tomas Berdych, the 2014 champion, 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-finals. Tsonga, 31, needed just one break of serve to snaffle the opening set against the and eased through after a repeat at the start of the second.
Goffin easily won 6-1, 6-3 against French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert, a doubles specialist ranked only 109 in singles.
Published in Dawn, february 20th , 2017
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