VIENNA (AP)—Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated German qualifier Daniel Brands 6-2, 7-6 (4) Saturday to set up a final against Juan Martin del Potro at the Erste Bank Open.
The ninth-ranked Tsonga will play his fourth final of the season and first since winning in Metz last month. The Frenchman has six career titles.
Earlier, the second-seeded Del Potro defeated Kevin Anderson of South Africa 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to reach his third final of the year.
“It’s a good challenge for me,” said Tsonga, who is 0-3 against Del Potro. “I never beat him, so this is another chance to do it … I expect to play my best tennis and to win.”
The 15th-ranked Del Potro is chasing his third title of the season and 10th overall. He last reached a final in April in Estoril, Portugal.
“Since then, I did not have a good season in the Masters and the Grand Slams,” said Del Poltro, who had wrist surgery last year. “I think I am close to my best level again now.”
Tsonga took a 4-0 lead against the 182nd-ranked Brands, who struggled at the start of his second career semifinal. Tsonga missed five chances to break Brands in the second set before wrapping up the win with an ace on his first match point in the tiebreaker.
“The first set was easy. I played better and moved better today,” Tsonga said. “In the second set it, was really tight but I had a lot of chances on his serve.”
The loss meant that Julien Benneteau of France remained the only qualifier to reach an ATP final this year.
Del Potro dropped just two points on serve in the opening set and used the only break chance against Anderson, who won his first ATP title in February in Johannesburg.
The Argentine was less dominant in the second set when the sixth-seeded Anderson rallied to even the sets. However, Del Potro didn’t allow any break points in the third and closed out the victory on his second match point on Anderson’s serve.
“I had to tell myself to stay focused,” said Del Potro, who had 18 aces. “Tomorrow, I need to be more concentrated to win the final.”