ATP Tennis: Tsonga looking a firm bet to delight home crowds in Marseille

At the Open 13 Tennis Tournament in Marseille, France, Rotterdam winner Robin Soderling was looking to continue his journey to becoming one of the main threats on the ATP tour. He is one of those players who is always on the fringe of the main action when it comes to the major tournaments, but his abilities serve him well in the ATP tour tournaments. He started favourite, but suffered a surprise quarter final defeat against Frenchman Michael Llodra. With Marcos Baghdatis and Tommy Robredo already falling from his quarter of the draw, Soderling looked a cert to make the most of the opportunity that lay in front of him. He didn’t, raising questions against about his ability to rank highly on the ATP Tour. Llodra will play Mischa Zverev in the semi final, and we could be heading to a replay of last year’s final between Tsonga and Llodra.

The second half of the draw though has been much more fascinating, with three of the four remaining players being seeded, and all of those being Frenchmen in front of their home crowd. Second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who was a surprise visitor to the Australian Open semi finals, goes up against Julien Benneteau, who is seeded 8th for the tournament, and ranked 39th in the World. Defending champion Tsonga, will be bringing the biggest hope of a French winner in the Open 13, not only as he was the likeliest to be able to give Soderling a run for his money, but because of his current form. With Soderling out of the way, Tsonga will be running as firm favourite for the tournament.

Jo Wilfried Tsonga to win: 3/10 at Stan James
Julien Benneteau to win: 5/2 at Bet365