Tsonga and Ferrer battle to title wins

Home favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga survived a match point before beating top seed Tomas Berdych to win the Marseille Open title for the second time Sunday.

Third seed Tsonga faced the match point at 5-6 down in the second set tiebreak, but served back to back aces on his way to leveling the match.

He broke Berdych for the first time at the start of the deciding set and eventually prevailed 3-6 7-6 6-4 after two hours and 10 minutes.

2009 champion Tsonga had come perilously close to exiting at the quarterfinal stage as he saved no less than five match points against Australian Bernard Tomic before going through.

It was his 10th ATP career title, seven of them indoors.

“This is a great victory,” he told the official ATP Tour website.

“I stayed in the match even when it was very difficult and waited for my chance. I survived and took my chance when it came. I’m very happy. The draw was very strong here.”

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Czech Berdych was appearing in his first final of the 2013 season, but was left to rue missed opportunities.

“I had a few chances, but Jo was able to serve well in the moment,” he said “That’s the sport. Here, I lost three tie-breaks. This one was very important. But it happens.”

Meanwhile, top seed David Ferrer was able to successfully defend his Buenos Aires Open crown in Argentina.

The Spanish clay court specialist won 6-4 3-6 6-1 against third seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.

It is World No.4 Ferrer’s second title of the year after he retained his Auckland Open crown in January and he is 15-2 for the season, beaten in the semifinals of the Australian Open by eventual winner Novak Djokovic.

Japan’s Kei Nishikori secured the U.S. National Indoor Championship later Sunday with a 6-2 6-3 win over Feliciano Lopez of Spain in a one-sided final.