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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga outlasted defending champion Nick Kyrgios on Saturday to make it an all-French final at the Open 13 Marseille. The second-seeded Tsonga advanced to his second title match in as many weeks by outlasting the third-seeded Australian 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-4.
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Tsonga, who was victorious in Rotterdam last week, will face fourth-seeded Lucas Pouille for the championship on Sunday.
Pouille ended the run of countryman Richard Gasquet with a 7-5, 6-3 to advance to his first final of the season and third in his career.
Tsonga, a winner of this event in 2009 and 2013, withstood another powerful serving performance by Kyrgios, who fired 16 aces in his bid to repeat as champion.
The 31-year-old Tsonga was the first player to break Kyrgios this week to take the first-set tiebreaker and earned another break in the decisive set to prevail in two hours, 12 minutes.
Kyrgios never dropped his serve in his title run a year ago.
Pouille relied on a strong serve of his own, uncorking 12 aces in knocking off Gasquet in 91 minutes.
The 23-year-old Pouille won the opening set by breaking Gasquet in the 12th game and carried the momentum into the second set by winning the first five games to remove any suspense.
Seeking his second ATP World Tour title, Pouille will be facing Tsonga for the second time. Tsonga won the lone previous matchup last year at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters.
