ATP Tour: Jo-Wilfried Tsongas finals hopes hit by Austrian setback

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's hopes of reaching the ATP World Tour Finals suffered a blow Saturday as the top seed crashed out of the Erste Bank Open in Austria.

The Frenchman is ranked ninth in the Race to London, but at this stage would take one of the eight places on offer due to Andy Murray's season-ending back surgery.

However, while Tsonga lost in the Vienna semis to Dutchman Robin Haase, his 10th-ranked compatriot Richard Gasquet earned a place in the final of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow to boost his chances of grabbing one of the four remaining spots.



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Former world No. 5 Tsonga is seeking to catch up on points after struggling with injury earlier this season, missing three months as he sat out the U.S. Open.

He could have moved above Swiss duo Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka by adding to his 2011 Vienna crown this weekend

Read: Federer on 'bonus time'

'I'm not in the best of shape and it showed out there,' Tsonga told reporters. 'But I have to keep playing if I want to make London.

'I had my chances but he was too good. I just have to keep fighting and trying to win matches.'

World No. 63 Haase, who won the Austrian Open clay event in 2011 and 2012, will take on German veteran Tommy Haas in the final of the indoor hard-court tournament on Sunday.

Haas is ranked 12th in the ATP standings but has a big gap to make up on Tsonga and Gasquet.

'There's still a chance, but obviously I will have to play extremely well next week and also in Paris, maybe even win Paris,' said the 35-year-old, who made his debut in the Vienna event in 1997 and won the title in 2001.

Read: Life in the tennis twilight zone

He reached his third final this season, and 27th overall, after beating 44th-ranked Czech Lukas Rosol 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-0) to take his record to 46-19 in 2013.

Gasquet, the top men's seed this week in Russia, reached the final with a 6-4 7-5 win over Croatia's Ivo Karlovic.

He will next play Kazakh qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin, who beat Italy's defending champion Andreas Seppi 6-1 1-6 6-4.

Victory will put Gasquet above Tsonga in the ATP standings ahead of next week's events in Valencia and Basel, with the Paris Masters closing the regular season the following week.

Fourth-ranked David Ferrer, who has already qualified for London, reached the final of the Stockholm Open with a 3-6 6-4 6-1 win over Latvia's Ernests Gulbis.

The Spanish top seed will next play Bulgaria's Grigor Dmitrov, who beat France's Benoit Paire 4-6 6-2 6-2.

Meanwhile, the WTA Tour announced Saturday that former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and American Sloane Stephens will be the alternates for the season-ending championships in Istanbul next week.

The duo can expect to be called up if any of the eight qualified players pull out of the tournament. The draw for the two groups will take place Sunday.

None of that line-up are involved in this week's events in Moscow and Luxembourg.

Luxembourg top seed Wozniacki, ranked 10th, will face Germany's Annika Beck in Sunday's final.

The Dane, who has reportedly split with golf star boyfriend Rory McIlroy, defeated German third seed Sabine Lisicki while Beck went through when Stefanie Voegele retired in the second set of their semi.

Former U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur will contest the Kremlin Cup final against Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep.

The Australian, who won the Osaka title last weekend, beat two-time grand slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2 6-4 while Halep defeated another Russian, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-2 6-1.

The Dane, who has reportedly split with golf star boyfriend Rory McIlroy, defeated German third seed Sabine Lisicki while Beck went through when Stefanie Voegele retired in the second set of their semi. None of that line-up are involved in this week's events in Moscow and Luxembourg. The Australian, who won the Osaka title last weekend, beat two-time grand slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2 6-4 while Halep defeated another Russian, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-2 6-1. Read: Life in the tennis twilight zone He will next play Kazakh qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin, who beat Italy's defending champion Andreas Seppi 6-1 1-6 6-4. None of that line-up are involved in this week's events in Moscow and Luxembourg. Fourth-ranked David Ferrer, who has already qualified for London, reached the final of the Stockholm Open with a 3-6 6-4 6-1 win over Latvia's Ernests Gulbis. The Spanish top seed will next play Bulgaria's Grigor Dmitrov, who beat France's Benoit Paire 4-6 6-2 6-2. World No. 63 Haase, who won the Austrian Open clay event in 2011 and 2012, will take on German veteran Tommy Haas in the final of the indoor hard-court tournament on Sunday.

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