• ATP Tour

Tsonga tops Delpo to fuel London charge

Jo Wilfried-Tsonga battled back after losing the first set © PA Photos

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Ferrer and Del Potro tumble in Valencia
  
• Profile: Marin Cilic | Juan Martin Del Potro | Janko Tipsarevic | Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Jo Wilfried-Tsonga put one foot in the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals by defeating Juan Martin del Potro in the final of the Erste Open in Vienna.

With a 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 triumph that took two hours and 28 minutes to complete, Tsonga leapfrogs Mardy Fish to claim No. 7 position in the year-to-date rankings. The top eight players qualify for the London tournament, which begins on November 20.

Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, was a set and a break ahead - but after falling 2-1 behind in the second frame, Tsonga won four games in a row to decisively rip the momentum away from his opponent.

Tsonga claimed his second title of the season, having previously triumphed in Metz, and snapped a three-match losing run against Del Potro.

Del Potro's World Tour Finals hopes remain slim: he is 11th in the race with two events remaining on the calendar. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and David Ferrer have already qualified.

"That was really tough," said Tsonga. "Juan Martin played very well. I lost a little motivation after losing the first set but fortunately I got it back quickly."

Elsewhere, Marin Cilic finished strongly to claim the St Petersburg Open with a three-set victory over Janko Tipsarevic, 6-3 3-6 6-2.

Fourth seed Cilic was not the favourite on paper to beat his second-seeded opponent, but managed to clinch his sixth ATP Tour title after raising his game for the deciding stanza.

Tipsarevic, looking for his second successive win after claiming the Kremlin Cup last week, quickly found himself behind Cilic - who had five of their previous six encounters, although he lost the most recent meeting.

The Croatian found the roles reversed in the second stanza to set up the deciding set, but Cilic somehow raised both his serving and return percentages - perhaps as Tipsarevic tired - to go on and secure victory.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.