Tennis News

For the second time this season, the Swiss stars Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka will cross paths on the professional tour, this time to determine who will advance to the semi-final of the Roland Garros Grand Slam event. Federer leads the overall head to head series 16-2, including a win in their most recent encounter in Rome.

In a match that required two days to complete, Roger Federer finally got his revenge on Gael Monfils on clay when he defeated the Frenchman in four sets to advance to the quarter-final stage in Paris. The contest began late on Sunday due to a rain delay and was completed on Monday morning with the contest split a set each. Federer managed to take advantage of a dejected Monfils to close out the match 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

“I wanted to get off to a good start, because you never know how he will be playing,” said Federer. “So I felt good. I was calm yesterday. I was calm this morning. So we (Stefan Edberg and I) adopted the right game plan and the right tactical approach. I’m very happy.”

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Seeded eighth at this year’s event, Stan Wawrinka defeated 12th seed Gilles Simon to take out the local favourite 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 and secure his place in the quarter-final round of the tournament, where he will come up against his fellow countryman and idol.

“It [will be] a special match,” said Federer. “It is not a traditional match. There aren’t too many Swiss players in the draw… It’s always special to play each other. There will be a Swiss guy in the semi-final. That’s positive. I hope I will reach the semifinal of a tournament. I will pull out all the stops to advance to the next round. If I will not make it, I will be very happy for Stan.”

This marks the 19th time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour, with Federer leading the head-to-head series 16-2. Federer won their most recent encounter en route to the final in Rome this season but also lost another clay court encounter at last year’s Monte Carlo final. It will be interesting to see if Stan will be able to topple the 17-time Grand Slam champ this time around.
 

An intriguing quarter-final match-up is scheduled to take place on Tuesday afternoon in Paris, as the only remaining Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, will face Japanese No. 1 Kei Nishikori to determine who will advance to the final four at Roland Garros. This marks the sixth time that the two athletes will cross paths on the professional tour, with the Nishikori – Tsonga head-to-head series poised at 4-1.

Although it was a turbulent finish to the match, Tsonga was able to eventually close out a solid showing against Tomas Berdych to secure his spot in the quarter-final stage of the Grand Slam event. After leading over the first two sets, Tsonga failed to serve out the match in the third set and was forced to contest a competitive fourth set before closing out the win 6-3, 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3.

“It was not easy because I played really well during (the first) three sets,” added Tsonga. “And when it was time to finish I played a little bit differently and because he’s a good player, he came back in the match. Then I started to miss a little bit more. But I had a good reaction in the fourth and finally I won it. So it’s good for me. I’m happy to beat a guy like this, one of the best at the moment.”

In a historic contest on Sunday, Kei Nishikori became just the second Japanese player to ever reach the quarter-final stage of the French Open. He struck 40 winners to defeat Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in two minutes short of two hours. He will now go on to face the last remaining Frenchman in the draw.

“We haven’t played a long time,” said Nishikori, looking ahead to the Tsonga match. “He’s coming back very strong. He has a big serve [and] big forehand. He’s always a dangerous player… So it’s going to be fun match.”

This is set to be the sixth time that Tsonga and Nishikori will meet on the professional circuit. Nishikori leads the head-to-head series 4-1, including a win in their most recent encounter last season at the Paris Masters. However, this is going to be their first career meeting on clay, which could impact their performances.
 

A seventh encounter between Ana Ivanovic vs Elina Svitolina is scheduled to take place in the quarter-final round of the French Open on Thursday afternoon. Ivanovic leads the head-to-head series with an undefeated 6-0 record and will be looking to extend that streak against the Ukrainian.

2008 champion Ana Ivanovic needed three sets to get past Ekaterina Makarova and earn her place in the final four of the tournament. The 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 win marked her first advancement to the quarter-finals since the Aussie Open in 2014 and she will now come up against Elina Svitolina to determine if she can make it even further into the draw.

“I honestly haven’t watched her throughout this tournament, and obviously she’s been improving her form each match,” Ivanovic said. “We played in Madrid just a few weeks ago. She’s a young player and I have been speaking about her for a long time. I think we are going to see plenty of her in the future.

The youngest player remaining in the women’s draw completed a big upset on Sunday afternoon when she ousted French darling Alize Cornet in straight sets. It was a battle on court and Svitolina was forced to play six match points before she was finally able to bring an end to the proceedings at 6-2, 7-6(9).

“I was trying to stay calm and just play my game. Of course, it was tough with the wind against me, the crowd and against a player like Cornet. She was fighting. I think she gave her best, and, yeah, I’m really happy that I could do it, and that the last point was on my side.”

Ivanovic leads the head-to-head series 6-0, including a recent win in Madrid this year. Only two of those six meetings took place on clay: their first French Open meeting last season in the second round of the tournament and the Mutua Madrid Open this season, both of which Ivanovic won in straight sets. Given her confidence this past week and her success on this surface, it is likely that Ivanovic will find her way into the semi-final stage in Paris.