No. 1 seed Tsonga falls in Lyon quarters
LYON, France -- Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lost in the Lyon Grand Prix quarterfinals on Friday, falling 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (8) to Arnaud Clement despite 27 aces.
Tsonga, who won only 10 points on his second serve, came back from a four-point deficit in the tiebreaker to level at 5-5, but then couldn't handle Clement's returns in an all-French quarterfinal featuring former Australian Open finalists.
Clement, the 2000 champion and 2003 finalist who is making his 13th appearance in the tournament as a wild card, will next play third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic.
Need the scores from any match played in today's tournaments? The Croat is the 2001 champion and only non-French player still in the draw.
Ljubicic beat Florent Serra of France 7-6 (6), 6-2, serving 16 aces and breaking his opponent twice in the second set. Saturday's semifinal will be his first since May 2008 at Poertschach, Austria.
"It's a great feeling to get into my first semifinal of the year," the 29th-ranked Ljubicic said. "If I can finish the year in the top 20 that will be a really good year for me. I feel like I am getting back to where I belong with my ranking. I'm feeling good on the court again."
Ljubicic extended his record against Serra to 4-0.
Second-seeded Gilles Simon retained a slight chance of qualifying for next month's eight-man ATP World Tour Finals in London by beating last year's Lyon runner-up, fifth-seeded Julien Benneteau 7-6 (5), 6-3.
"I came here to try and win the tournament," said Simon, who can still claim one of the two spots up for grabs in London. "There are two matches left, two matches that will of course be very difficult."
Simon will play wild card Michael Llodra, who edged doubles partner Marc Gicquel 7-6 (5), 6-4. Llodra broke twice and served his 13th ace on match point to reach Lyon's semifinals for the first time in eight appearances.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
