Tsonga on mission to end jinx in Slam semis
Print Edition
THE reappearance of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals of the French Open has again raised hopes among home fans of finally seeing one of their own reach the men’s final at Roland Garros.
Tsonga won through to his second French Open semifinal in three years by beating Japan’s fifth seed Kei Nishikori in five sets on Tuesday, winning 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 in a contest that lasted close to four hours on a packed Court Philippe Chatrier.
The 14th seed, who lost to Spain’s David Ferrer in straight sets in the semifinals in 2013, will now face Swiss eighth seed Stan Wawrinka as he looks to become the first Frenchman to reach the final in Paris since Henri Leconte back in 1988.
France has been looking for one of its own to win the men’s title at Roland Garros ever since Yannick Noah was crowned champion in 1983.
But for Tsonga the first objective must be to end a run of four successive grand slam semifinal defeats since he reached the Australian Open final in 2008.
On reaching his sixth semifinal in a major, the 30-year-old Tsonga said: “That’s wonderful, it’s all very nice, but I’ve not yet won it. The good thing would be to win one again some day, and the earlier the better because then that will do me a lot of good.
“My ambition is to go as deep as I can. I play to try and see how far I can go. I never set myself limits in terms of my results.”
Tsonga and Wawrinka boast three wins apiece from six previous encounters but the Swiss is fresh from beating compatriot Roger Federer in the last eight and has won his last two meetings with the Frenchman.
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