Tsonga lifts odds for season finale place with Tokyo title

TOKYO - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga put himself into solid contention Sunday for a place in next month’s ATP season wrap-up in London as he won his third title of the season in a 6-3, 6-3 runaway over Mikhail Youzhny at the Japan Open tennis.

The first Frenchman to ever triumph at the Ariake colosseum was untouchable in a blistering 69-minute masterclass over the unseeded Russian ranked 49th.

It was all brute force for 2008 Australian Open finalist Tsonga, who claimed his third title of 2009 and fifth of his career.

“I played perfectly today - like yesterday,” said the world number seven, duelling along with a handful of rivals for one of the last two places in the World Tour Finals.

“When I play like that it’s tough for my opponents.”

Tsonga’s victory capped three consecutive weeks of French success on the ATP, with Gael Monfils claiming victory in Metz last month and Gilles Simon also winning Bangkok a week ago, an event where Tsonga went out in the semi-finals after arriving jet-lagged from Europe.

Youzhny, who took clay honours in Munich in the spring, admitted defeat. “Jo was just too good, he’d hit four serves and we’d change ends,” said the loser after Tsonga fired 11 aces in victory and broke three times in the routine victory.

Tsonga improved to 48-16 on the season as he claimed his first trophy since February when he won in Johannesburg and Marseille.

He earned the first set after a break in the eighth game followed up by his fourth ace, then piled on seven more untouchable serves in the second set and ended with a concluding winner on a day of bright sunshine after the week’s typhoon problems.

The 24-year-old Frenchman moved up to third in the 2009 trophy table, tied with Nikolay Davydenko and US Open champion Juan Del Potro.

The success marked his fifth title from six finals, with his only loss coming in Melbourne last year to Novak Djokovic.