Tsonga and Del Potro Into French Open Quarters
World number nine-ranked Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina set up a 2012 French Open quarterfinals match against third-ranked Roger Federer of Switzerland by finishing off a 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 over Tomas Berdych on Monday in a match stopped the night before due to darkness after three sets. The seventh-seeded Berdych lost to del Potro at love in the final game. The only other time del Potro made it to the semifinals at Roland Garros was in 2009 when he lost to Federer.
"I was really, really focused to try to win the fourth set," said del Potro. "I’m really glad to go through, to play [in the] quarterfinals again. I want to play the best I can. I’m looking forward to the next match."
France’s Jo Wilfred-Tsonga was also victorious at Roland Garros Monday, finishing off a five-set victory over Stanislas Wawrinka, winning the last two games of a match that was also suspended by darkness the night before. Tsonga led 4-2 in the fifth when play resumed, but quickly gave up a break, then had to break back at 5-4 to close out the match. Tsonga advances to meet world number one-ranked Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.
The five sets lasted four hours, six minutes, most of it played in the dimming light the night before. Still, Tsonga said he felt as if the hardest work came when they restarted on the second straight cloudy, blustery day at Roland Garros.
Other winners on Monday included 12th-seeded Nicolas Almagro, who upset the number eight seed, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. The 20 seed, Marcel Granollers, was defeated by Another Spaniard, sixth-seeded David Ferrer, 6-3, 6-2, 6-0.
