Tennis News

While all eyes are on the semi final between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, the bottom half of the draw sees what could be one of the matches of the tournament if both players perform to the same high level they have shown throughout the tournament. Seventh seed Stan Wawrinka will face home favourite and fourteenth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Losses for Tsonga to Marin Cilic, Marcel Granollers and David Goffin did little to inspire confidence coming into this tournament, one he made the semi finals of in 2013. However, the Frenchman has looked inspired after easing his way through the first three rounds. Tomas Berdych had little answer in the fourth round, only getting a look in due to Tsonga’s level dipping late in the third set and early in the fourth. Tsonga stopped the rot before it was too late in the fourth set finally taking the match 6-3 6-2 6-7 6-3.

His quarter final against Kei Nishikori showed a similar pattern with Tsonga dominant for the first two sets, only to fade as the finish line got closer. Nishikori looked to have turned a corner after saving break points at 4-4 in the third, breaking in the next game and pushing the match to a fifth set. Nishikori’s fifth set record has been well documented, losing just once at a slam prior to this match. Tsonga broke for a 3-1 and held onto it to make his second Roland Garros semi final.

After a shock loss in Geneva previously, Wawrinka had been going about his business quietly in week one, losing just one set on his way to the quarter finals. In the eagerly anticipated match between the Swiss No.1 and No.2, it turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment as a contest with Wawrinka playing some stunning tennis to win in straight sets against Roger Federer. It was a marked turnaround from Rome, where Federer won 4&2.

After losing in round one last year, Wawrinka is now favoured to make the final but will have to deal with a raucous crowd supporting a confident Tsonga. There always is the possibility that the occasion could get to Tsonga as seen in his last French Open semi final where David Ferrer comfortably beat him in straights – an anticlimax after his surprise win against Roger Federer in the previous round.

Five of the six meetings between the two have been played on clay with Wawrinka leading these 3-2. They went five in back-to-back years in 2011 and 2012, splitting the pair while Wawrinka also won a BO5 in Davis Cup action last year in four sets.

The serve could be vital here with Tsonga in particular not wanting to get into a slog after two lengthy matches. Both players have had plenty of free points, as they sit No.1 and No.2 in terms of first serve points at 81% each while Federer failed to break in a grand slam match for the first time in a long while. Wawrinka has been hitting the ball outstandingly with 43 winners overall in his last match.

It seems unlikely that we will get a classic five setter like their 2011 and 2012 meetings but an impressive display of attacking is sure to be on the cards. Question marks over Tsonga lasting the distance have to remain after twice almost throwing away extremely dominant leads. Wawrinka will be quick to latch onto any drop in Tsonga’s level if he finds himself behind.

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The final four is set and this year Roland Garros will have a first time winner. In the more anticipated final of the two, the top seed and No.3 seed will compete after both Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic lived up to their billing to make the semi finals.

Djokovic was in stunning form to defeat nine time champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets, rarely letting up after an early 4-0 lead was erased in the first set. From 4-4, Djokovic dropped just five more games to finally get over what had been the toughest hurdle of his career and move ever closer to that elusive first French Open title. With the 7-5 6-3 6-1 victory, Djokovic has now won 20 sets in a row dating back to the Rome quarter finals and will look to extend that to 23 when he takes on Murray.

It wasn’t as straight forward for Murray against David Ferrer, who won in four sets. After saving set points at *5-6 in the first set, Murray was rarely troubled as he raced into a two sets and a break lead. Ferrer would fight back to force a fourth set but any ideas of a comeback were quickly erased after Murray broke at the first time of asking. He would add a second break on his way to a 7-6 6-2 5-7 6-1 victory, his first on clay against Ferrer in five attempts.

For someone who has historically struggled on clay relative to his ranking, Murray’s 15 match winning streak (and accompanying two titles) has come as somewhat of a shock, especially the wins over Nishikori and Nadal en route to the Madrid title. Although Murray has made the semi finals of this tournament before, he is probably in the best clay form of his career but unfortunately runs into the clear best player in the world, on any surface including this one.

Djokovic is 40-2 on the year and has not lost since February, picking up titles in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Rome along the way. Ten top-10 wins have been collected in that streak including twice over Murray, in addition to the Australian Open final victory. These three wins extended Djokovic’s winning streak over Murray to 7 and the head to head to 18-8 overall. In what was once a close record, Djokovic blew open from 2012 onwards.

The Australian Open and Miami meetings this year feel notable for the fact that Murray was well in both of these matches, especially the former in which he held a break lead in the third set. Both saw Djokovic take the final set 6-0 though, with Murray failing to keep up with the World No.1 the longer the match went on.

Interestingly, this will only be the third meeting on clay out of 27. The unstoppable Djokovic of 2011 needed a third set tiebreak to see off Murray in Rome and for all his dominance this year, it is still difficult to suggest Djokovic is playing at a higher level than what we saw in that year with 3 clear rivals being left in his wake.

After seeing off Nadal, everyone is waiting to crown Djokovic as the new king. The pressure is all on him to deliver and it’s hard to imagine a scenario that involves Murray winning without Djokovic completely disappearing and letting the occasion get to him. Murray has shown promise with greater aggression but over five sets it seems unlikely that Murray could perform consistently enough to live with Djokovic in the lengthier rallies.