ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Milos Raonic of Canada beat Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 7-6 (2) Saturday to set up a final against Joao Sousa of Portugal at the St. Petersburg Open. Raonic hit 19 aces, four of them in the second-set tiebreaker, and held serve throughout the match. He won six straight points to win the tiebreaker and sealed the victory with another ace. Raonic will be chasing his first ATP title since winning the Washington Open in August 2014. He has yet to drop a set in three matches in St. Petersburg. In the first semifinal, Sousa upset third-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria 6-4, 7-6 (5). Thiem won more points than Sousa but his serving was inconsistent, with 11 aces balanced by landing just 46 percent of his first serves. It was the seventh-seeded Sousa's first win against Thiem in four meetings. Sousa has lost his last four ATP finals since winning his only title against Julien Benneteau at the 2013 Malaysian Open. Tsonga-Simon in all-French final Jo-Wilfried Tsonga stayed strong on serve to set up an all-French final against Gilles Simon at the Moselle Open when he beat German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4 Saturday. Earlier, Simon recovered from a second-set lapse to beat Slovakian sixth seed Martin Klizan 6-4, 6-4 in Metz. Simon broke decisively in the ninth game and followed up on serve to claim the opening set. The second-seeded Simon, however, fell 3-1 behind in the second set but he quickly regained his composure to win five of the six remaining games. Third seed Tsonga enjoyed a 74 percent first serve rate against fifth seed Kohlschreiber, who did not have a single break chance. Tsonga converted his only break opportunity in the first set and he continued to pile on the pressure in the second, wrapping up victory on his first match point having served a total of 13 aces. — Agencies
