Spanish pair David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro led the way into the French Open quarter-finals yesterday on the back of comfortable straight-sets wins.
Joining them in the last eight, in matches held over from Sunday in the opposing half of the draw, were Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.
Sixth seed Ferrer cruised past countryman Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-2, 6-0, while 12th seed Almagro pushed aside Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
Photo: AFP
Tsonga, seeking to provide a first French win in the men’s singles since Yannick Noah in 1983, returned to action against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 4-2 ahead in the fifth set and despite dropping his serve in the opening game, he held steady to pull off a 6-4, 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 3-6, 6-4 win that saw him into the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time.
Next up is a meeting with top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who has history-making on his mind too as he bids to become the first man in 43 years to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.
“It was tough yesterday as it was dark at the end. I don’t know if was great for me or not, but I came on the court this morning with a good spirit. I had a good night’s sleep and I was ready to play again,” Tsonga said.
Photo: AFP
Del Potro was two sets to one up against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic when darkness fell on their round-of-16 tie late on Sunday and he wasted little time on their return yesterday to complete a 7-6 (8/6), 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 win.
His reward is another crack at third seed Roger Federer, to whom he lost a thrilling five-setter in the 2009 semi-finals. Ferrer’s win over Granollers took him through to the quarter-finals for the third time in his career.
The sixth seed’s opponent in the last eight is the winner of the match between fourth seed Andy Murray of Britain and Richard Gasquet of France.
Photo: EPA
Played in weather conditions more suited to late November than early June, and in front of a paltry set of fans on the Philippe Chatrier court, Ferrer made it four straight sets wins out of four against his younger countryman.
The 30-year-old sixth seed simply had too much power and experience for his opponent, accelerating smoothly away from him after grabbing the first break of serve in the match in the sixth game of the first set.
He stormed through the second set for the loss of just two games, and with Granollers looking increasingly deflated, Ferrer had no difficulty in closing out what had been a lop-sided contest.
Photo: EPA
From now on in, he said, it was all about controlling his occasionally brittle emotions.
“Maybe I’ve changed a little,” Ferrer said. “In 2012, in any case, I felt really good. I have to continue on this same path. That is, I have to remain calm and serene. In doing that, I’ll better manage my stress.”
The 26-year-old Almagro had reached the quarter-finals twice before in 2008 and 2010, losing to Rafael Nadal in both instances, but he was knocked out in the first round last year.
Photo: EPA
Any memories of that dismal campaign were forgotten as Almagro fired off four aces — out of nine in the entire match — against Tipsarevic to clinch the first set and he never looked back.
Second seed, and defending champion, Nadal was playing later yesterday against Juan Monaco of Argentina, with the winner going up against Almagro.
On Sunday, Djokovic came close to finding out just how difficult it is to pull off the Grand Slam of majors when he diced with defeat, before conjuring a great escape.
Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open champion Djokovic appeared to be heading for his earliest defeat in a Grand Slam for three years, before he hauled himself back from two sets down for only the third time in his career to subdue Italy’s Andreas Seppi 4-6, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 and reach the last eight.
While women’s world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka’s defeat caused ripples on day eight, it was nothing like the shockwaves that were reverberating around a chilly and blustery Roland Garros as men’s world No. 1 Djokovic fell two sets behind.
Before the round-of-16 showdown, Djokovic had joked: “I think half of Serbia will support Sepp ... [because] he’s very famous in Serbia” for winning the Belgrade tournament.
After Sunday, Seppi’s name will be known around the world.
Seventy-seven unforced errors over four hours and 18 minutes of high drama summed up why the world No. 1 found the going tough against a man he had beaten in all seven of their previous meetings.
In fact, if the Serbian is going to deny his great rival, Nadal, a record seventh crown in Paris, Djokovic will have to sharpen his game, and quickly. In his three matches to date, Nadal has hit 26 fewer unforced errors than Djokovic produced on Sunday.
Seppi impressed during the first set and had the hollering fans stamping their feet when he took the second.
While fans were sensing an upset was on the cards, Wawrinka, whose match against Tsonga was scheduled next on Philippe Chatrier court tweeted: “Do I get ready or do I wait? Think I’ll wait for the fifth [set].”
He turned out to be an astute soothsayer.
Djokovic shook off the dead weight around his legs to take the third set as Seppi, going more and more for the lines, was left frustrated by shots that looked certain winners when they flew off his racket, being blown just wide by the gusting winds swirling around the court.
The 25-year-old Serbian held his nerve to nudge past Seppi in the fourth, before slamming down a forehand winner to keep alive his chances of joining Don Budge and Rod Laver as the only men to have held all four majors at once.
“It’s one of those days where you feel just nothing is working. I was very fortunate to come through this match,” Djokovic said after joining the fans in giving Seppi a standing ovation as he walked off the court.
Federer was also impressed with what he saw when he came up against baby-faced admirer David Goffin on Suzanne Lenglen court.
The Belgian, who had plastered his bedroom walls with posters of his Swiss idol when he was a teenager, looked like he should have been standing to attention, hands crossed behind his back, as one of Federer’s ball boys.
Instead, the excited and exuberant 21-year-old declared that playing in front of such a huge crowd “gives me wings.”
After Goffin went flying through the first set in front of a disbelieving crowd, Federer clipped his wings, albeit gently, to bring him down to earth for a 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 win.
“David has played an extraordinary tournament,” the Swiss said after ending his opponent’s bid to become the first lucky loser to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final.
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