Tsonga and Wawrinka Into French Open Final Four
France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga marched into the French Open semifinals on Tuesday, beating fifth-seed Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3.
The hometown favorite Tsonga came out firing from the very start of the match, breaking twice in the opening games en route to taking the opening set 6-1.
The 14th seed then built a 5-2 advantage in the second set before a piece of scaffolding fell off the scoreboard and into some spectators which caused a 30 minute delay. Upon returning to the court, Nishikori came out rejuvenated, closing the gap to 4-5 before Tsonga served out the set.
Nishikori’s momentum continued into the third set as he tried to work himself back into the match. He would take the third set and the fourth set to force the match into a deciding fifth set.
Tsonga snatched back control by winning the lone break of the third set and would go on to serve out the match.
After the victory, Tsonga laid down on the Roland Garros clay as the French crowd showered him with applause.
“You supported me,” he told the crowd in his post-match interview. “I will never forget it.”
Tsonga will meet Stan Wawrinka in the semis. The eighth-seed Wawrinka beat fellow Swiss and former French Open champion Roger Federer 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(4).
Wawrinka entered the match with a 2-16 career record against Federer, but came out firing on Tuesday. He hit 43 winners overall and was the much more aggressive player through the gusting winds, something that gave Federer trouble.
“I made 30-something errors today. He, maybe, made one,” said Federer. “I tried many things. One of them was trying to put (the ball) up high. Another one was trying to hit through the wind. Obviously I was not going to leave the French Open without having tried everything out there.”
Wawrinka and Tsonga have split the previous meetings with each other, with both players winning against the other three times.
