Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took the title against his long-time rival and friend Gilles Simon winning in three sets, 7-6, 1-6, 6-2.
In doing so, Tsonga avenged the 2013 final, where he had lost to Simon, his only defeat to the former world no.6 on indoor hardcourts. Tsonga now extends their head-to-head to 7-3.
Tsonga effectively stole the first set from under the nose of Simon, as the higher ranked frenchman maintained respectable serving statistics. Tsonga on the other hand was proving woefully under par on second serve, winning a miserly twenty-six percent. This saw Simon earn six break points throughout the set. Unable to take any of them however, Tsonga held on for the tiebreak. The stats that might have seen win the first set then betrayed Simon, with Tsonga stealing the set 7-5 in the tiebreak.
Simon then won the reward that his play had perhaps warranted in the first set, breaking Tsonga twice, as he continued to bully the second serve, and even kept Tsonga’s normally powerful first serve numbers in comparatively average territory. Tsonga’s unpredictable game did offer him three break points, but the consistent Simon saved them all, serving out and now looking the favourite to continue on and win the title.
But in typical Tsonga fashion, his game did not stay consistent. Following on from the one-sided second set, this change did the former Australian Open finalist a world of good, as punishing groundstrokes wore down Simon. Simon’s serve was the one to take the battering in this set, and though it did not match the lows set by Tsonga in sets one and two, they were still enough to see Tsonga break twice. Tsonga found his own rhythm, dropping just three points behind his first serve. A shell-shocked Simon could not even muster a single break-back point as the third set quickly evaporated into an anti climax.
Despite the defeat, the run in Metz is very encouraging for Simon, as it represents his first run of back-to-back victories since his quarter-final run at Wimbledon. Early defeats to Donald Young and Aljaz Bedene had been worrying signs but this tournament sees him back on track.
For Tsonga the year has been like his game inconsistent, but he looks geared up for a late push for a spot in London. He will need to perform well in the Paris and Shanghai Masters, as an early defeat in Wimbledon and not playing in Australia has cost him.
