By Chris Oddo | Friday April 15, 2016
Roger Federer’s comeback from knee surgery came to a halt on Friday in Monte-Carlo as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga produced a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory to set up an all-French semifinal with Gael Monfils for Saturday.
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Tsonga, who won for the sixth time against Federer and the second in succession (6-11 overall), reached his second career semifinal at Monte-Carlo and is one victory away from reaching his first clay-court final.
“It’s always special to win against Federer,” said Tsonga. “I’m in the semis. I’m happy that I’m still in the tournament and I have a chance to go to the final for the first time.”
Tsonga dropped the final three games of the first set to fall behind early. The Frenchman was the victim of some pinpoint returning from Federer in the set. Twice Federer pinned him back at the baseline with deep, rocketed backhand returns that drew errors for breaks.
“I was expecting a difficult match, and that is exactly what happened,” Tsonga said of his 14th victory of the season. “He was very reactive, he was running well. From the start, I thought he was very fast. But I was able to turn it around. He dropped his level a little bit and I was able to come back into the match and end up winning. It’s good for me.”
In the second set Tsonga benefitted from some loose play from Federer as he picked up his own game. Already down by a break, Federer missed an easy smash that led to a double-break opportunity that Tsonga cashed in on for a 4-1 lead.
Though Federer would break back in the next game, he was done in by his own hand a game later when he guided an easy volley well wide to hand Tsonga back the double-break. That play left him shaking his head, while Tsonga sought the attention of the doctor at the changeover.
The Frenchman would gulp down a pill (seemingly for pain) before taking the court and serving out the set, appearing no worse for the wear.
“Maybe we were both a bit up and down,” Federer would later say. “We had a couple of games here and there that we kind of gave each other on the serve.”
After a clean ten games in the decider, Tsonga drew first blood critically in the eleventh when he seared back-to-back forehand passing shots past Federer to take a 6-5 lead.
Moments later he would serve out the victory to snap his personal four-match losing streak against the Top 10.
“For me the important thing now is to concentrate on what is coming,” Tsonga said, looking ahead to his seventh career meeting with Monfils. “It was very important to win today. Now I need to prepare for tomorrow.”
Federer, who had not played since January, still remains optimistic about his form despite the loss.
“Third was close all the way through. The game I got broken is a tough game to get broken on because I think I had three forehands that I’m in good position, and I end up losing all three points. It’s a tough break to get.”
He added: “It was a good tournament, a good match, exactly what I was hoping for and more, so I’m very happy.”
Monfils continued his fine form in 2016 with a 6-2, 6-4 takedown of lucky loser Marcel Granollers. The Frenchman has now reached back-to-back semifinals in Monte-Carlo. He improves his 2016 record to 19-5 with the victory and will bid to reach his third Masters 1000 final with he meets Tsonga tomorrow.
Tsonga owns the 4-2 lifetime head-to-head over Monfils, but the pair have never meet on clay.
In doubles, third-seeded Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert edged Andy Murray and Dominic Inglot to reach the semifinals. Second-seeded Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo and fourth-seeded Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares also advanced, along with unseeded Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal.