Jo-Wilfried Tsonga wins World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam

Sixth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga secured his 13th ATP World Tour title on Sunday with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over No. 3 seed Belgian David Goffin at the World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

A finalist at Rotterdam in 2011, Tsonga benefited from 10 aces to record his first tournament title since winning at Metz, France, in September 2015. The 31-year-old also became the first Frenchman to win at the Ahoy Rotterdam since Michael Llodra in 2008.

"I'm really happy," Tsonga said. "These titles come at the right moments. The last couple of months I put in a lot of effort to come back to this level. It's a huge reward for me and it gives me new expectations for the rest of the year.

"I changed my serve and worked a lot on my backhand and my returns. I also changed my strings. There were many things to improve my game and do things better. Today, it's a reward and I will try to be better and better. In the second set, I had another mentality on court. I was more aggressive and it made the difference."

One day after securing his 400th career tour-level victory, Tsonga found himself on the defensive after Goffin jumped on his serve and secured two breaks en route to claiming the first set.

Tsonga answered in the second, using his sweeping forehand to keep the Belgian at bay. The World No. 14 kept the momentum going in the third, winning the set's first five games before putting away Goffin in one hour, 56 minutes.

Tsonga improved to 4-2 versus Goffin while winning their first hardcourt match since 2014.

Goffin fell in his second straight final, having lost to Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria one week ago at the Sofia Open. The 26-year-old Goffin, who is expected to jump into the Top 10 on Monday, was seeking his first title since winning at Metz in 2014.

"It was a great week in the end," Goffin said. "There was a lot of emotion this week and I won a lot of matches. I was a bit tired today. I started the final really well, but in the end Jo played better than me, especially in the third set.

"Of course I'm disappointed, but I played some good tennis and will be in the Top 10 on Monday."