Tsonga gets utmost joy!

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sent Roger Federer crashing out of the French Open quarterfinals on Tuesday to take a step closer to ending France’s 30-year wait for a men’s champion at Roland Garros. Sixth-seed Tsonga swept to a 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 triumph to reach his first semifinal in Paris and first by a home player since Gael Monfils in 2008.  Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer reached the French Open semifinals for the second successive year on Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 win over compatriot Tommy Robredo.

Ferrer will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a place in Sunday’s final. Ferrer won in just 1hr35 to lift his series to 7 wins for two losses against his 32nd-ranked rival as the 31-year-old from Javea continued a fine run of form which has seen him reach the last four without dropping a set.

World number one Serena Williams survived a huge scare to reach her first French Open semi-final since 2003 on Tuesday, defeating unseeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Williams, bidding to win just her second title in Paris, 11 years after her first, looked down and almost out at one stage against the 2009 champion.

Despite coasting through the first set, she then dropped serve for the first time in the tournament, being broken three times in the second set, trailed 0-2 in the third and fought off two break points that would have seen her slip to 0-3. But she battled back, winning six of the next seven games to secure victory in a shade under two hours.

Victory extended Williams’ winning streak to 29 matches as she moved into a semi-final clash against Italian fifth seed Sara Errani, the runner-up to Maria Sharapova last year. ‘It was very difficult and I am very tired,’ said Williams. ‘Svetlana played very well. She has won this tournament before so I am happy to get through such a tough match.

Against Sara, it will be another tough great fighter.’ Williams, who had dropped just 10 games in reaching the last-eight, eased through the first set with breaks in the second and sixth games, sealing the opener with an ace, despite the challenges posed by a tricky, swirling wind inside Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Sara Errani of Italy showed her surprising run at the French Open last year was no fluke as she beat fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-4, 7-6 (6) Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam tournament in Paris. Errani lost to Maria Sharapova in last year’s final here.