Jo-Wilfried Tsonga stunned Roger Federer 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday at the French Open, catching the second seed on a bad day to deny Federer a 35th career Grand Slam semi-final.
The French hero seeded sixth will play next against Spain’s fourth seed David Ferrer, who rolled over compatriot Tommy Robredo 6-2, 6-1, 6-1.
Federer, who had come from two sets to love down in his previous match over Gilles Simon, fell flat against Tsonga, the last French hope at this edition to finally lift the home title after a 30-year wait.
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Federer felt every bit of the pain that Tsonga inflicted on him in the defeat where he broke the Swiss six times and produced one more winner than Federer’s 25.
“To be honest, I’m pretty sad about the match and the way I played,” said Federer, the Roland Garros champion in 2009. “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. He can serve his way out of trouble at times. He returned better than I did; served better than I did. I struggled to find my rhythm. Conditions played definitely quite different today again than the rest of the days I played. But it was exactly the same thing for him as well. He played on the same day, so there’s no excuse there. “I’m just disappointed I couldn’t put in a better match today.”
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Federer will now start his grass-court season next week in Halle, Germany before playing Wimbledon which begins in just under three weeks.