Tsonga leaves Federer wincing to reach semis

A shot fired straight into Roger Federer’s armpit demonstrated just how badly Jo-Wilfried Tsonga wanted to reach the French Open semi-finals.

Federer was left wide-eyed and wincing when the ball bounced off his sweat-soaked shirt.

But that momentary pain was nothing compared to the mental anguish the Swiss was feeling two games later as reality hit and he realised he would not be in the semi-finals of the French Open for only the second time in nine years.

Twelve months after blowing four match points at the same stage against Novak Djokovic, Tsonga produced a rip-roaring performance to beat the Swiss 7-5 6-3 6-3.

As wild celebrations erupted among the packed house on Philippe Chatrier Court after Tsonga reached the last four in Paris for the first time, Federer made a rapid exit from the arena where he had held aloft the Musketeers’ Cup in 2009.

“This is obviously a crushing loss,” Federer told reporters.

“I struggled a little bit everywhere. Personally, I’m pretty sad about the match and the way I played.”

Federer did not even have to look at the statistics to know just how badly his day had gone.

For the record he produced zero aces, three double faults – including one on break point – 34 unforced errors and won only 58 per cent of points on his first serve.

While Federer was left to digest everything that went wrong for him yesterday, Tsonga rejoiced in setting up a last-four date with David Ferrer without dropping a set.

A backhand long from Federer on match point allowed Tsonga to bury memories of the “tragic near miss” against Djokovic and dream about the possibility of becoming the first Frenchman in the final since Henri Leconte in 1988.

“I played very well against a champion who won everything but today it was my turn,” said a beaming Tsonga.

“Ferrer has not lost more than three games in a set so I hope I can come back here in three days and do something big.”

There was no escape this time for comeback king Tommy Robredo as he lost an all-Spanish quarter-final against ruthless Ferrer 6-2 6-1 6-1.

The 31-year-old had recovered two-set deficits in all three of his previous rounds at Roland Garros but Ferrer was rock solid as he thrashed his countryman in one hour 25 minutes.

Serena shines

Serena Williams extended her winning streak to 29 matches when she beat Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1 3-6 6-3 in the quarter-finals to continue her run towards a second French Open title yesterday.

The world number one, who won her only Roland Garros title in 2002, came back from a break down in the decider and played some beautiful tennis to set up a semi-final meeting with fifth seed Sara Errani.

After strolling through the opening set, 15-times grand-slam champion Williams came up against a streak of forehand winners from Kuznetsova, the 2009 French Open winner.

The American fell 2-0 behind in the third before winning five games in a row, wrapping up victory with a forehand volley after nearly two hours.

Earlier, Errani proved her run to last year’s French Open final was no fluke as she toppled Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 7-6.

In a scrappy match where the second set alone featured eight breaks of serve, it was the diminutive Italian who finally raised her arms in celebration after her opponent whipped a backhand into the tramlines.