Tsonga defeats Dimitrov to reach Rogers Cup men's final

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France reacts after defeating Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria during men's semifinal Rogers Cup tennis action in Toronto on Saturday, August 9, 2014. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette)

TORONTO -- Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France defeated Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday to advance to the Rogers Cup men's singles final.

Tsonga, the No. 13 seed, will play the winner of the evening semifinal between second-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland and Feliciano Lopez of Spain. The final is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at Rexall Centre.

Dimitrov, the seventh seed at the Masters 1000 Series tournament, fell to 0-4 in head-to-head matchups against the Frenchman.

It was Tsonga's third straight win over a higher-seeded opponent. He dumped top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the third round and defeated No. 8 Andy Murray of Britain in the quarter-finals.

"This week I'm more consistent and it's good because it (helped) me beat three guys in the top 10," Tsonga said. "I didn't do that (for a) couple of years now and it gives me hope for the rest of the year."

Both players seemed content to hang near the baseline on a hot, sunny afternoon on the showcase stadium court.

Tsonga needed a few games to get his legs going but his powerful serve helped him stay on serve against the young Bulgarian. At 4-4 in the opener, Tsonga got lucky when his ball hit the net cord and trickled over the other side to go to deuce.

He picked up the lone break of the set by taking advantage of his raw power from the backcourt. Heavy topspin strokes forced Dimitrov from side to side and he came up short on two straight returns.

Tsonga, buoyed by the enthusiastic near-capacity crowd, skipped and pumped his fist when he sealed the last point. He fought off four break point opportunities in the next game to take the opening set.

"You have your chances," Dimitrov said. "Today things were just not leaning on my side."

Perhaps a little tired after his three-hour quarter-final a day earlier, Dimitrov appeared a tad sluggish early in the second set.

After splitting the first two games, he fell behind 0-30 and tried pushing forward but his volley found the net to set up a triple-break point. Tsonga showed him how it's done with a chip-and-charge setup and firm volley winner.

Dimitrov seemed unsettled after that. He began flubbing second-serve returns and was unable to dictate the play.

Tsonga, meanwhile, showed off some of his other skills. Up 4-2 and looking for another break, he displayed his impressive range by chasing down balls on both sides of the court and fully stretching his six-foot-two frame.

When Dimitrov floated a soft return, Tsonga showed some deception by bringing his shoulder in to tease a straight return before extending the arm and going cross-court to leave his opponent befuddled.

Dimitrov hung in for the hold but Tsonga followed by serving out at love for a 5-3 lead. He converted his second match point when Dimitrov's lob bounced just long.

"He came up with the goods today when he needed to and basically that was it," Dimitrov said. "And I didn't think I played good tennis."

Tsonga extended his arms in the air after the victory and later shadow-boxed on the court for a few seconds in celebration.

Sunday's match will be his second final appearance of the season. He lost to Latvia's Ernests Gulbis in Marseille last February.

Tsonga has won 10 career titles and will be looking for his first Rogers Cup crown. He has a 4-11 career record against Federer, his preferred choice as an opponent on Sunday.

"When you play against Roger, it's always special," Tsonga said. "First, because you play in a big area, in a big stadium anyway. And every time the crowd is for him, so it's quite a good sensation.

"It's quite a good feeling when you win against 10,000 people," he added with a smile.

Tsonga has won all five of his previous meetings against the unseeded Lopez.

It will be Tsonga's first appearance in a Masters 1000 final since he lost to Federer three years ago at the BNP Paribas Masters. His only Masters 1000 title came in Paris back in 2008.

In early doubles play Saturday, the fourth-seeded duo of Brazil's Marcelo Melo and Croatia's Ivan Dodig defeated Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Croatia's Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-2.

Third-seeded Daniel Nestor of Toronto and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia were scheduled to play No. 2 Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil in the late doubles semifinal.