A revenge-minded Roger Federer blew past 11th-ranked Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6–4, 6–3, 6–3 and into the semifinals for an eighth straight time at the annual Flushing event Thursday night and in the process, atoned for one of his most shocking grand slam exits ever—a five-set loss at the All-England Club last June to the French-born Wilfried in which the six-time Wimbledon Champion blew a two sets to none lead.
At the time, the head-turning event was the first time anyone had dared to come back from such a deficit against tennis’ all-time leader in Grand Slam titles in a major event in 179 career matches.
This time, though, he made sure he wasn’t going to have a repeat of that fateful summer day. The five-time U.S. Open Champion was aggressive from the start, repeatedly going to the net for points (32 times, converting 19) while the somewhat out-of-sorts Tsonga (19 total net approaches, 11 converted) seemed confused by the aggressive play of the world’s number three player.
The 30 year-old Federer also had his first serve working to the tune of 72% (62 of 86) while again the younger Tsonga lagged behind, getting in just over half of his initial attempts (45 of 85) in helping to allow the Swiss star 13 break point opportunities of which he converted six, compared to the meager three and two that the 26 year-old Tsonga had.
The straight sets win sets up a much anticipated Saturday semi-final match between Federer and the top-ranked Novak Djokovic. The star from Serbia has an almost fake-looking 62–2 record this year with one of those losses being a withdrawal due to injury, while the other was a four-set drubbing to Federer at the French Open that ended his perfect season.
At the time, the head-turning event was the first time anyone had dared to come back from such a deficit against tennis’ all-time leader in Grand Slam titles in a major event in 179 career matches.
This time, though, he made sure he wasn’t going to have a repeat of that fateful summer day. The five-time U.S. Open Champion was aggressive from the start, repeatedly going to the net for points (32 times, converting 19) while the somewhat out-of-sorts Tsonga (19 total net approaches, 11 converted) seemed confused by the aggressive play of the world’s number three player.
The 30 year-old Federer also had his first serve working to the tune of 72% (62 of 86) while again the younger Tsonga lagged behind, getting in just over half of his initial attempts (45 of 85) in helping to allow the Swiss star 13 break point opportunities of which he converted six, compared to the meager three and two that the 26 year-old Tsonga had.
The straight sets win sets up a much anticipated Saturday semi-final match between Federer and the top-ranked Novak Djokovic. The star from Serbia has an almost fake-looking 62–2 record this year with one of those losses being a withdrawal due to injury, while the other was a four-set drubbing to Federer at the French Open that ended his perfect season.
