France’s own Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will hope to continue his surprise run through the Roland Garros draw when he goes up against Stan Wawrinka on Friday. The winner will face either Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray for the title.
Stan Wawrinka and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be doing battle for the seventh time in their careers when they collide in the semifinals of the French Open on Friday.
Interestingly, if not amazingly, this will be their sixth consecutive meeting on clay and the two veterans have not squared off on anything other than clay since 2007. The head-to-head series stands at an even 3-3, with Wawrinka having won three of their five encounters on the slow stuff. They most recently faced each other last fall in the Davis Cup final in France, where Wawrinka silenced the crowd in the form of a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory. A pair of 2013 showdowns saw Tsonga prevail 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 before the Swiss came out on top 6-2, 6-7(9), 6-4 in Madrid.
Although both men have reached Grand Slam finals (Australian Open; Wawrinka won in 2014, Tsonga lost in 2008), whoever reaches this title match must be considered a significant surprise based on recent form. Wawrinka had been 8-7 in his 15 previous matches heading into Roland Garros, but so far this fortnight he has taken out Marsel Ilhan, Dusan Lajovic, Steve Johnson, Gilles Simon, and Roger Federer. The world No. 9 dropped only one set to Lajovic and his 10-set winning streak has required only one tiebreaker.
Tsonga, in part due to injury, had been even worse than Wawrinka over the past few months. In his recovery from an arm issue the world No. 15 won just six of his first 11 matches this season. But as he suggested after upsetting Kei Nishikori in five sets on Tuesday, Tsonga loves Roland Garros (“Roland je t’aime”). The 2013 semifinalist preceded his quarterfinal win with convincing victories over Christian Lindell, Dudi Sela, Pablo Andujar, and Tomas Berdych.
This is Tsonga’s second trip to the last four in Paris and the second time he will be playing an opponent outside the “Big 4” with a spot in the title match at stake. He fizzled when presented with such an opportunity in 2013, losing swiftly to David Ferrer 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-2. Tsonga should turn in a better account of himself in this one, but Wawrinka’s firepower was downright scary against Federer. The No. 8 seed is a slam champion who will not crumble at this stage of a major.
Pick: Wawrinka in 4
[polldaddy poll=8909150]
Tsonga’s loss means that Rafa will be No.10 in next week’s rankings.
I was reading on VB the other night and someone there cranked the numbers and said that Rafa would be #10, but #11 if Tsonga got to the final.
So Rafa is still in the top ten at least.
The world seems to have gone off its axis. Rafa is gone and Stan is in the final. Where did this come from? Stan hasn’t done anything this year. They commentators on the tennis channel said that last year he was knocked out in the first round!
Now in the states we have the pleasure of the network taking over to show Novak/Murray. My question is, will they stick with the match if it goes long? At least not the networks are not doing the tape delay nonsense, where they would broadcast a match hours before it happened. Last weekend they just picked up the matches lives when their coverage began. That’s progress, I guess, But I still would really like to see the networks just get out of the business of showing tennis altogether.
ESPN isn’t all that great either at times because they cover so many other sports. If not for the tennis channel, all would be lost for American tennis fans.
I guess that I am fortunate to not have to deal with the British media over Murray. But we have our own cross to bear in the states. If there is an American playing at a slam anywhere, anytime, then other matches will be given short shrift!
If Murray wins this match I’ll eat my Nike bull horn cap.
A bit of light relief. I wear my Nike bull horn cap in the lounge to watch tennis. My excuse is that there is too much light coming in through the window. 🙂
^^^^ROFL
Have Murray and Djoker signed a covenant to play dull matches?
Djoker targeting Muzza’s weak FH……….
Apparently I’m more for Muzza in this match than I had expected.
#ScoreboardWatching
I want Amelie to beat BB…
Vamos Amelie!
RT @AmyFetherolf : “Stan Wawrinka in another slam final. What a world.”
nny, just to let you know that I left a couple of posts for you on the long nadal/djokovic thread. I’m not going to watch this match so will be offline now.
Ask Dick Enberg would say, Ohhhh my…..
https://twitter.com/rolandgarros/status/606851466574315520
Clay titans with no clay slams. Too funny!!
@rolandgarros
Battle of the clay titans: whose streak will come to an end?: http://rg.fr/oFyvx9
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CGv4MRmUkAAXRwj.jpg
(I guess that makes Rafa their God)
nny, just to say that I left a couple of posts for you on the long nadal/djokovic thread.
am not going to watch this match as I can’t stomach the british media when murray is playing so will be offline.
If Murray can keep this going he’ll soften Djokovic up nicely for Stanley. Oh, Oh, he’s up to his old tricks already.
Trainers already on court for the Djoker.
SARS or bird flu.