France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached his first claycourt final just ahead of the French Open by beating Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-2 3-6 6-1 at the Lyon Open on Friday.
Second seed Tsonga served 14 aces to reach the 26th final of his career -- and his first on the red dirt, where he will face Tomas Berdych after the Czech defeated top seed Milos Raonic of Canada 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-2).
Tsonga had gotten off to a poor start in the claycourt season, withdrawing from his second-round match at the Madrid Masters before skipping the Rome Masters with a shoulder injury.
In the other semi-final, third seed Berdych avenged his Rome third-round defeat by Raonic by playing better in the two tiebreaks to get a chance to claim a 14th ATP title - his first this year.
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