ATP World Tour No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga strongly boosted his campaign to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in November by clinching his third ATP World Tour title of the season Sunday in Tokyo. The second seed cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Russian Mikhail Youzhny in the final of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships.
With victory at the ATP World Tour 500 hard-court tennis tournament, Tsonga received 500 South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking points and $300,000. The Frenchman is pushing for one of the three remaining singles berths at the season climax, to be held at the O2 in London, 22-29 November. He clinched his place last year in dramatic style, defeating David Nalbandian in a winner-take-all final at the BNP Paribas Masters.
"I am so happy to win another title and this puts me closer to (qualifying for the Barclays ATp World Tour Finals in) London," said Tsonga. "I have so much confidence now going into Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 and the indoor events. It's a great time of the year for me."
The No. 1 Frenchman is the sixth player this year to win three or more ATP World Tour titles, having also triumphed at the SA Tennis Open (d. Chardy) in Johannesburg and the Open 13 (d. Llodra) in Marseille in February.
Since finishing runner-up to Novak Djokovic in his first tour-level final at the 2008 Australian Open, Tsonga has won five ATP World Tour titles from five finals, beginning with victory at the PTT Thailand Open (d. Djokovic) last year.
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