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Federer silences Monfils to book last four spot

World number two Roger Federer eased past local favourite Gael Monfils 7-6(6) 6-2 6-4 to book his place in the French Open semi-finals yesterday. The Swiss will play his fifth consecutive semi-final at Roland Garros against Argentine fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro.

Federer, the hot favourite after four-times champion Rafael Nadal was knocked out in the fourth round, saved a set point in the first-set tiebreak before clinching it 8-6. He hung on a double break to take the second and put Monfils out of his misery on his first match point with a backhand winner, keeping alive his dream of winning the only grand slam title to have eluded him.

Argentine fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro overcame a bout of jitters to stroll into his first grand slam semi-final with a 6-3 6-4 6-2 win over Spaniard Tommy Robredo at the French Open on Wednesday.

However, there is little chance Del Potro’s nerves are likely to settle down over the next two days since his reward for overcoming the 16th seed is a last four clash with Roger Federer.

“I was very nervous all along the match and I never managed to really get in the match because my legs were really tense,” the 20-year-old, the youngest man left in the draw, told reporters.

“Maybe you couldn’t see that from the outside but I was pretty tense. Tommy played really well. Three sets, that is not a good indication of what the match was, because he really played well.”

Despite the nerves, Del Potro was barely troubled by Robredo and relied on his big serve and punishing forehand to unsettle the only Spaniard left in the draw following the fourth-round exit of four-times champion Rafael Nadal.

No matter whose names emblazon the French Open trophies this weekend, this year's event belongs to the underdog.

SERENA SENT PACKING
Svetlana Kuznetsova squandered a big lead on Wednesday but still ended Serena Williams’ 18-match Grand Slam winning streak by winning 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-5 in the French Open quarterfinals here.

Williams, seeded second, was seeking her third successive major title and the 11th of her career.

The seventh-seeded Kuznetsova faced a set point serving at 5-6 in the first set but erased it with a slam and won that set. Williams rallied three points from defeat to even the match, then took a 3-1 lead in the third.

Kuznetsova mounted the final comeback and broke serve in the last game when Williams

pushed a backhand wide. The seesaw struggle was this close: Midway through the third set, each player had won 100 points.

Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open champion, is seeking her second major title.

STOSUR IN SEMIS

Kuznetsova's opponent on Thursday will be Samantha Stosur of Australia, who reached her first major semifinal by beating Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-1, 6-3. Stosur, 25, has never won a tour title.

The 30th seed, a Grand Slam quarter-final debutante like her opponent, dominated from the start and was gifted her first break in the second game when Cirstea double-faulted and she then cruised through the rest of the first set.

The 19-year-old Romanian seemed more daunted by the occasion than Stosur and failed to find a breakthrough despite finding herself 0-40 on Stosur’s serve in the second game of the second set.

Her chance missed, the world number 41 dropped her serve the following game and Stosur held her nerve to set up a last-four date either with world number two Serena Williams or Russian seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.