Federer closing in on first French title
WORLD No2 Roger Federer swept into his 20th consecutive Grand Slam semi-final with a blistering demolition of home favourite Gael Monfils in the French Open.
The Swiss master, 27, was forced to save a set point in an opening set tie-break before fighting back to clinch a 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, 6-4 victory over the fancied 11th seed in two hours and 10 minutes.
Incredibly, despite 13 Grand Slam successes, Federer is yet to triumph at Roland Garros. But he has been red-hot favourite to break his duck this year ever since four-time champion Rafael Nadal suffered a shock fourth round defeat to Sweden’s Robin Soderling.
First though, Federer must face in-form fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro in the last four, after the Argentine comfortably dispatched Spanish No16 seed Tommy Robredo.
Surprise package Soderling takes on Andy Murray’s conqueror Fernando Gonzalez in the other semi-final.
Second seed Serena Williams saw her hopes of a second French Open title ended by Svetlana Kuznetsova in a nail-biting quarter-final. The 2002 champion fought back after going a set down but tired to hand the Russian a 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 7-5 victory.
Kuznetsova now faces Samantha Stosur in today’s semi-final after the Australian 30th seed beat Sorana Cirstea, of Romania, 6-1, 6-3.
Today’s other semi-final sees top seed Dinara Safina take on Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova.