METZ, France -- Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will go for his third straight Open de Moselle title when he plays Gilles Simon in an all-French final on Sunday with both players chasing their 11th career title. Tsonga rallied to beat eighth-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals Saturday after the second-seeded Simon had defeated French countryman Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 7-6 (2) to stay on course for his first title of the year. This is Tsongas first tournament since a knee injury forced him to drop out of his second-round match at Wimbledon and his first final since winning the Open 13 in Marseille in February for his 10th career title. Just like in Fridays quarterfinals, Tsonga took time to find his range and dropped the first set. He looked leg-weary and was broken in his first service game, then struggled to hold his next as Mayer pinned him to the back of the court with his looped returns. "Its thanks to the fans that I managed to hang in there and also because Florian Mayer has a little bit of a weakness in terms of endurance," Tsonga said. "It will be a different matter against Gilles. I noticed that he is playing very well." Tsonga leads Simon 5-2 overall. All of Tsongas titles have been on hard courts, half of Simons on clay. Tsonga started the second set aggressively and Mayer had to save two break points early on. In the fifth game, Tsonga paused before serving and then squatted down as if to test the flexibility of his knees. He drew Mayer to the net on the next point and then lobbed him to force another break point, which Mayer saved with a forehand pass. Mayer saved another chance on his serve but Tsonga finally broke him when he returned a weak second serve with a thumping forehand. He held to love, including an ace and a crosscourt winner from the back of the court, to move 5-2 ahead. Tsonga did not face a break point in the third set and in the other semifinal Simon did not face a single break point for the second consecutive match. "I broke him early and was solid from the baseline," Simon said. "Ive been practicing for a month before coming here. I needed to do that and I think that today was a pretty solid match." Simon, who lost the Eastbourne final in June, broke Mahut in the fifth game and took the first set against serve when Mahut planted a weak shot into the net. . Red Sox outfielder Jonny Gomes, the bandleader of the beard brigade during Bostons run to the 2013 World Series title, said he will be shaving his off before spring training so that he can file it "in the archive" with his memories of the teams improbable championship. . His absence against the Celtics comes a day after he scored 43 points in the Heats 100-96 win at Cleveland.
http://www.cheapnhlkingsjerseysauthenti ... nne-jersey. -- Craig Anderson has quite a record against his former team, the Florida Panthers. . The Toronto Maple Leafs were holding a news conference, so they got curious. It didnt take long for them to find out via social media that coach Randy Carlyle was coming back — with a two-year extension — and assistants Greg Cronin, Scott Gordon and Dave Farrish were being let go. . Rooneys latest piece of football genius lost in the furore which now stalks David Moyes, and the man who gave the Manchester United striker his start as a 16-year old at Goodison Park back in 2002. SYDNEY, Australia -- Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova reached her first WTA final by beating second-seeded Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals of the Sydney International on Thursday. Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, was broken twice in the first set and four times in the second against Pironkova, who finished last season ranked No. 108. "First time into a WTA final -- its an amazing feeling," said the 26-year-old Pironkova. "Ive been waiting for this for a long time." Pironkova lost to Kvitova in the 2011 quarterfinals at Wimbledon after losing in the semis the year before at the All-England Club. With qualifiers and main draw, she has now won seven consecutive matches in Sydney and is aiming for No. 8 in the final, where shell meet fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber, who beat American Madison Keys 6-4, 6-2 in the other semifinal Thursday. In the mens tournament, top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro beat Czech veteran Radek Stepanek 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to set up a semifinal against Russias Dmitry Tursunov. Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion who finished last season ranked No. 5, relied on his strong serve, with 14 aces to three, and saved seven of 10 break points. Tursunov earned a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win over Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. Defending champion Bernard Tomic beat Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3 in a night quarterfinal. John Isner reached the semifinals of the ATPs Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand after a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) win over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber in a match between former champions. The quarterfinal match between third-seeded Isner, the 2010 Auckland champion, and No. 22-ranked Kohlschreiber, the 2008 winner and beaten finalist last year, lasted 2 hours, 24 minutes and contained no breaks of serve. Playing on an injured ankle, Isner finally clinched the match with a vital point against serve in the third-set tiebreak. "I played against a gutsy opponent so I knew I had to give everything I had," Isner said. "It wasnt that pretty for either of us and a lot of times, when Im playing guys as good as him, the match comes down to a point here or there.dddddddddddd I got a little bit lucky today." Isner served 18 aces, put 83 per cent of first serves in play and won 82 per cent of first serve points. Isner will next play Spains Roberto Bautista Agut, who beat American wildcard entry Jack Sock 6-1, 6-3 in a rain-interupted match. David Ferrer moved closer to his fifth singles title in Auckland when he beat Spanish compatriot Guillermo Garcia Lopez 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in a night match. In the WTA event at Hobart, top-seeded Sam Stosur reached the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 34-ranked Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia. "Everythings moving in the right direction, thats for sure, but theres still room for improvement," Stosur said. The 2011 U.S. Open champion next faces seventh-seeded Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, who beat American Alison Riske 6-4, 7-5. In the exhibition tournament at Kooyong, the former Australian Open venue in Melbourne, No. 7-ranked Tomas Berdych advanced to the final with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Kei Nishikori of Japan. Berdych, who opened the tournament with a straight sets win over Fernando Verdasco, will next play the winner of Fridays all-French semifinal between Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon. No. 8-ranked Stanislas Wawrinka withdrew from the eight-man invitational tournament earlier Thursday citing fatigue following his title win at Chennai last week. He was replaced in the draw by Russias Mikhail Youznhy. No. 8-ranked Stanislas Wawrinka withdrew from the eight-man invitational tournament earlier Thursday citing fatigue following his title win at Chennai last week. He was replaced in the draw by Russias Mikhail Youznhy. In the exhibition tournament at Kooyong, the former Australian Open venue in Melbourne, No. 7-ranked Tomas Berdych advanced to the final with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Kei Nishikori of Japan. Berdych, who opened the tournament with a straight sets win over Fernando Verdasco, will next play the winner of Fridays all-French semifinal between Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon. ' ' '
