LYON: Second-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia at the Lyon Open on Friday to reach his first clay-court final.
Tsonga hit 14 aces and saved eight of 10 break points to win 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
The Frenchman, who has reached 25 ATP finals on other surfaces, will face third-seeded Tomas Berdych on Saturday.
Berdych beat top-seeded Milos Raonic 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2) in the other semifinal.
Raonic, who hit 17 aces, appeared to have got back into the match when he got the first break early in the second set, but Berdych broke back and the Czech player went on to clinch his second tiebreak.