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
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