June 4, 2013 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Photo credit: Kenneth B. Goldberg
Roger Federer will not advance to the semifinals of the French Open for the second time in nine years as he was defeated by Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. It has been 12 months since Tsonga blew four match points at the same stage against Novak Djokovic, but Tsonga made sure to play much better on Chatrier Court by defeating Federer.
Tsonga has a place in the last four at Roland Garros for the first time. After the match, Federer quickly exited the arena where he had held aloft the Musketerrs’ Cup in 2009. Tsonga is bidding to become the first male French champion at Roland Garros since Yannick Noah won the title in 1983.
Tsonga will next face fourth seed David Ferrer in the final four after Ferrer defeated Tommy Robredo in all-Spanish quarterfinal, 6-2, 6-1, 6-1.
Robredo recovered two-set deficits in all three of his previous rounds at Roland Garros, but he was no match for Ferrer who won the match in one hour and 25 minutes. Ferrer, the second-best claycourter in Spain behind Rafa Nadal, played an excellent match against Robredo from the start by producing a near-perfect display and advanced to the semifinals for the second successive year.
Ferrer and Tsonga have met three times over the course of their career, with Ferrer taking two of those three meetings, the last meeting being a clay court win by Ferrer three years ago at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.
