Paris, May 5: A point from losing the first set of his French Open quarterfinal, Roger Federer shanked a routine forehand, sending the ball 10 feet beyond the opposite baseline.
The Court Philippe Chatrier crowd roared with approval, then loudly chanted the last name of Federer’s foe, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
That shot was a clear indication that Federer was hardly Federesque on this day. There were plenty of others: He argued with the chair umpire about a call. He dumped overhead smashes into the net. And in a truly rare ungraceful moment, he failed to put a racket to — or get out of the way of — a backhand flip by a sliding Tsonga, instead getting hit on the back.
All in all, Federer looked lost out there yesterday against the sixth-seeded Tsonga, who pounded his way to a 7-5 6-3 6-3 victory over the 17-time Grand Slam champion in a 1-hour, 51-minute mismatch remarkable for its lopsidedness and brevity.
“I struggled a little bit everywhere. To be honest, personally, I’m pretty sad about the match and the way I played. But that’s how it goes. I tried to figure things out, but it was difficult. And Jo does a good job keeping the pressure on,” Federer said.
“He was just … Better in all areas,” Federer continued.
“He returned better than I did. Served better than I did. I struggled to find my rhythm.”
While Federer quickly faced a big deficit yesterday and never recovered, 15-time major champion Serena Williams was able to quickly get out of a much smaller spot of trouble.
Trailing in the third set against 2009 French Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, the No. 1-seeded Williams won five games in a row en route to a 6-1 3-6 6-3 victory that put her back in the semifinals at Paris after a decade’s absence.
“I’m very proud of her,” said Williams’ coach, Patrick Moratouglou, “because she was really, really in a bad situation.” (AGENCIES)
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