Tsonga slams Berdych to reach Rotterdam final

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga rained down ten aces, finishing off Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-4 in 72 minutes on Saturday to power into a second Rotterdam World Tennis final on Saturday.
The French sixth seed will compete for his first title at the Ahoy stadium after finishing runner-up six years ago.
He faces the winner from Belgian third seed Dàvid Goffin and surprise semifinalist Pierre-Hughes Herbert, a French qualifier and member of the top ATP doubles side.
Tsonga was unstoppable against Berdych, the 2014 champion and 2015 finalist playing his third semifinal at the Dutch event.
Tsonga came good in his second semifinal of the season as he bids for a first trophy since winning at home in Metz, in 2015.
Berdych came to the court with an 8-3 lead in the series, including wins in their last two meetings, one a Doha quarterfinal last month.
Tsonga finished with two breaks of the 13th-ranked Czech while never facing a break point in what quickly became one-way traffic.
“My only goal is to win the next match, this would be important for me,” Tsonga said.
“I’m not too worried about my (14th) ranking unless I were able to get to eighth, that is the position where you are protected in the draw from other seeds.
“Berdych played a tough match, he’s a power player, hitting the ball hard like me. My strategy is always the same — the best strategy is to just play well.”
Goffin, who earned revenge in the quarter-finals as he beat Grigor Dimitrov five days after the Bulgarian won the Sofia event at the Belgian’s expense, will be facing Herbert for the first time.

Young topples Isner in Memphis

American John Isner became the latest seed to be upset at the ATP Tour’s Memphis Open on Friday as the second seed lost in three sets to unheralded Donald Young.
The world No. 81 Young posted his first career win over Isner in four meetings by outlasting the fellow American 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 7-6 (8/6) to reach the semifinals.
Isner was the last remaining seed in the tournament as none of the top seeds reached the semis.
Young won a first-set tiebreak and dropped the second before holding on in the third set.
He let a triple match point opportunity slip away at 6-3 in the third-set tiebreaker, but after Isner won three straight points to tie it at 6-6, Young won two points to finish off the contest.
Qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin powered his way into the semifinals with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over fourth-seeded Steve Johnson.
Kukushkin, ranked No. 103 in the world, is on a roll. He won three matches while losing only 14 games along the way. This is his first semifinal since 2015 in Sydney, Australia.
Many of the top players in the world decided to skip the Memphis tournament in order to play in events in Rotterdam, Netherlands and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Kukushkin’s semifinal opponent will be Nikoloz Basilashvili, who defeated qualifier Matthew Ebden of Australia 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.
Basilashvili, of Georgia, advanced to the quarterfinals by knocking off top-seeded Ivo Karlovic on Thursday.