Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, who won the Heineken tennis tournament yesterday, signs autographs at Ho Chi Minh City’s Seventh Military Zone Stadium.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France yesterday won the Heineken Stars 2008 tennis tournament final beating Swede Robin Soderling by two sets to one.

The final was played at Ho Chi Minh City’s Seventh Military Zone Stadium.

The Frenchman, ranked 20th in ATP rankings clinched the tiebreaker in the first set, only to have the Swede roar back with a 6-1 win in the second.

As per tournament rules, the winner had to be decided in a tiebreaker with the winner first to win 10 points. Tsonga prevailed 10-4 to take the cash prize of US$40,000.

Earlier, semifinalist losers 24th-ranked Nicolas Kiefer and 34th-ranked Tomas Berdych were busy meeting fans and signing autographs as well as taking on players from the Vietnamese national team and HCMC’s District 1 team.

This is the second time the Heineken Stars tennis tournament has been organized in Vietnam after the inaugural one in 2006.

Reported by Nhut Quang