Federer Continues to Roll as Men’s and Women’s French Open Semis Are Set

It was supposed to be an entertaining match, but thanks to the Swiss maestro Roger Federer, it became just another routine affair. Federer was able to defeat France’s Gael Monfils, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(3) in the quarterfinals of the 2011 French Open on Tuesday afternoon. Monfils, who had just come off a five-set victory in the last round, was no match for Federer and his shot-making abilities. Monfils has now succumbed to defeat at the hands of Federer for the third time in the last four years at Roland Garros. Federer’s victory now sets up a seminfinal showdown with world number two-ranked Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Djokovic comes into the match with the obvious edge as he owns three consecutive victories over Federer, two of which coming at Grand Slam events, and also brings with him 42 consecutive match wins.

In the top half of the draw, world number one-ranked Rafael Nadal of Spain was able to defeat Robin Soderling in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(3). This is the second year in a row that Nadal has taken out the Swede in straight sets, last year doing so in the championship match. Nadal will now take on Andy Murray of Great Britain who took out surprise quarterfinalist Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina, 7-6(2), 7-5, 6-2. Murray is now into his first ever semifinal at the French Open and will have his hands full with the defending champion on Friday.

On the women’s side, action kicked off early with Maria Sharapova of Russia wasting no time in her quarterfinal match defeating Andrea Petkovic of Germany, 6-0, 6-3. Sharapova had lost their previous meeting at the Australian Open, but made no mistakes on this day. Sharapova equaled her best performance at Roland Garros as she had previously made the semifinals in 2007. The big Russian, who is now two wins away from completing her career Grand Slam, will take on Li Na of China who defeated the number four seed, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 7-5, 6-2. For Na, this marks her best performance ever at Roland Garros. Her previous high finish was the second round, however, since the beginning of the year, she has become a major threat on the WTA tour. Becoming the first Chinese player ever to reach a Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, Li Na will look to continue her 2011 success on Thursday.