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A20    SPORTS
               Monday 20 February 2017
                  Tsonga beats Goffin to win World Tennis Tournament final




            ROTTERDAM,  Netherlands                                                                                             and dictate points more.
            (AP)  —  Jo-Wilfried  Tsonga                                                                                        “I  changed  my  serve  and
            clinched his 13th career ti-                                                                                        worked a lot on my back-
            tle on Sunday, rallying from                                                                                        hand  and  my  returns.  I
            a set down to beat David                                                                                            also  changed  my  strings.
            Goffin  of  Belgium  4-6,  6-4,                                                                                     There  were  many  things
            6-1 in the final of the World                                                                                       to improve my game,” he
            Tennis Tournament.                                                                                                  said.  “In  the  second  set,  I
            The  sixth-seeded  French-                                                                                          showed a different mental-
            man  hit  10  aces  and,  al-                                                                                       ity on court. I was more ag-
            though  he  dropped  his                                                                                            gressive  and  it  made  the
            serve  twice,  he  broke  the                                                                                       difference.”
            third-seeded Goffin’s serve                                                                                         He improved to 4-2 overall
            four times.                                                                                                         in career meetings against
            Tsonga, ranked 14, lost the                                                                                         the  11th-ranked  Goffin,
            final here in Rotterdam six                                                                                         who won both of his career
            years ago. His previous title                                                                                       titles in 2014.
            also came on indoor hard-                                                                                           The  31-year-old  Tsonga
            courts in Metz, France, two                                                                                         reached  the  milestone  of
            years ago.                                                                                                          400 career wins this week,
            “I’m really happy. The last                                                                                         and victory in the final was
            couple of months I put in a                                                                                         his  401st.  Goffin,  mean-
            lot of effort to come back                                                                                          while, will become the first
            to  this  level,”  Tsonga  said.                                                                                    Belgian man to break into
            “It’s a huge reward for me                                                                                          the top 10 when the rank-
            and  it  gives  me  new  ex-                                                                                        ings are published Monday.
            pectations  for  the  rest  of                                                                                      “I was a bit tired. I started
            the year.”                   France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga holds the trophy as he celebrates winning his match against Belgium’s   the  final  really  well,  but  in
            The    powerful     Tsonga   David Goffin in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, in the men’s singles final of the ABN AMRO world tennis   the  end  Jo  played  better
            changed  his  approach  to   tournament at the Ahoy stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017.       than  me,”  the  26-year-old
            play  more  to  his  strengths                                                                     Associated Press   Goffin said.q
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