Tuesday, June 2, 2015

French Open Day 10 recap: Wawrinka ousts Federer

Swiss stars Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka played doubles
together at Indian Wells last year. Photo by Paul Bauman
   Upset of the day -- Eighth-seeded Stan Wawrinka reached the French Open semifinals for the first time, knocking off Swiss countryman Roger Federer, seeded second, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the wind.
   Wawrinka, the 2014 Australian Open champion, defeated Federer, who won the French Open in 2009, for only the third time in their 19 meetings and the first in their five Grand Slam encounters. 
   Match of the day -- Fourteenth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France advanced to the semifinals for the second time in three years with a 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory over No. 5 Kei Nishikori of Japan. 
   Women's quarterfinals -- No. 7 seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia dismissed No. 19 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-2 in 75 minutes to reach a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time since winning the 2008 French Open for her only major title.
   No. 13 seed Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic backed up her victory over defending champion Maria Sharapova with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over No. 21 Garbine Muguruza of Spain to reach her second Grand Slam semifinal. The 28-year-old Safarova, a Wimbledon semifinalist last year, will crack the top 10 for the first time on Monday. 
   Stars and stripes -- Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, Southern California natives seeking their third French Open title, moved into the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4 victory over seventh-seeded Marcin Matkowski of Poland and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.
   However, No. 2 seeds and reigning Wimbledon champions Vasek Pospisil of Canada and Jack Sock of Tampa, Fla., lost to fifth-seeded Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania 6-3, 6-3.
   In the mixed doubles quarterfinals, second-seeded Mike Bryan and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, a Phoenix resident, beat Anastasia Rodionova of Australia and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan 6-0, 7-6 (3). 
   The United States has four boys -- No. 2 Taylor Fritz, No. 6 Michael Mmoh, No. 13 Tommy Paul and 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) Reilly Opelka -- and three girls -- No. 3 Katerina Stewart, No. 4 CiCi Bellis and Caroline Dolehide -- in the junior round of 16.
   Fourth-seeded Michaela Gordon of the United States and Charlotte Robillard-Millette of Canada fell to Jill Teichmann of Switzerland and Shilin Xu of China 6-1, 2-6 [10-8] in the second round.
   Northern California connection -- The 37-year-old Bryan twins led Stanford to NCAA team titles in their two years on the Farm (1997 and 1998). Qureshi is scheduled to play for the Sacramento-based California Dream in World TeamTennis this summer. Bellis, 16, and Gordon, 15, live in the San Francisco Bay Area.    
   Fast facts -- Federer reached the French Open final for four straight years from 2006 through 2009. Now he's on a less impressive streak: He has lost in the quarterfinals or earlier for the past three years.
   Quotes -- Wawrinka: ''I played my best match in a Grand Slam tournament and my best match on clay.''
   Federer: ''I tried many things. Obviously I was not going to leave the French Open without having tried everything out there.''
   Tsonga: "You're going to be praised when you reach semis at Roland Garros, as if you had already won the tournament. Whereas, in fact, well, to me it's not over yet.''
   Wednesday's quarterfinals on Court Philippe Chatrier (starting at 5 a.m. PDT, ESPN2) -- Serena Williams (1) vs. Sara Errani (17), Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Rafael Nadal (6). 
   Wednesday's quarterfinals on Court Suzanne Lenglen (starting at 5 a.m. PDT, ESPN2) -- Timea Bacsinszky (23) vs. Alison Van Uytvanck, Andy Murray (3) vs. David Ferrer (7).

1 comment: