We've got down to the quarter final stages at Roland Garros and the men's tournament has just blown into action with both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer squeezing into the final four. Grand Slam chasing Djokovic faced home hero, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, while record seeking Federer battle Juan Martin Del Potro in the first two last eight matches and both went the full five sets.
Apart from John Isner's attempt to match his tie-break record with Nicolas Mahut against fellow Frenchman, Paul-Henri Mathieu, which finished 18-16 in the second set, the men's draw was proving rather uneventful. It looked like that was going to continue on Philippe Chatrier when Djokovic thrashed Tsonga 6-1 in the opening set.
But the partisan crowd got behind their new hero and Tsonga managed to win the second and third sets 7-5 to take a 2-1 lead. The fourth set went to 6-5 in the Frenchman's favour with Djokovic serving to stay in the match. Tsonga did get to match point on two occasions at the game went to deuce, but the Serb rallied around to take the game and force a tie-break. This would be as close the previous three sets and again Tsonga found himself at match point occasions but was unable to cement them in front of his home crowd. Djokovic was again able to battle back and take the tie-break 8-6 to move into a final set. Unfortunately, all of Tsonga's energy and fight had been taken in the previous set, allowing Djokovic to romp home 6-1 in the final set. This means his plight to match Rod Laver and Don Budge in scoring a Grand Slam. But full credit to Tsonga who has done his country proud in taking part, and almost winning, what was an epic match.
Meanwhile, on Suzanne Lenglen, Federer was in the midst of an equally epic battle against Del Potro. If Federer got through he would equal the record for the most Grand Slam semi-final appearances, 31, while Del Potro would be nursing a knee injury which he has been doing throughout the tournament.
The ninth seeded Argentine stepped up to the plate and took the first 6-3 before winning the second set 7-4 on the tie-break. But that was when the knee began to start a war against him. Federer knew this and began the charge, taking the third set 6-2 before demolishing Del Potro 6-0 in the fourth.
The fifth and final set would last nine games as Federer won it 6-3 to win a 14th match from which he had been behind. One can only guess whether this would have been the case against a fully fit Juan Martin Del Potro. Federer and Djokovic will now meet in the semi-finals with Andy Murray facing sixth seed David Ferrer and Rafael Nadal taking on fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in the other other quarter finals tomorrow.
But once again, the women's tournament has been much more exciting and unpredictable. 12th seed Sabine Lisicki lost in straight sets to American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the opening round. But the biggest shock of the first round came when Serena Williams lost 6-4 6-7 3-6 to home girl Virginie Razzano.
Eighth seed Marion Bartoli lost in the second round in front of her home crowd to Petra Martic 2-6 6-3 3-6. Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska lost in straight sets to 26th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round. This was followed by 13th seed Ana Ivanovic (losing 6-1 5-7 3-6 to 21st seed Sara Errani) and ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki (losing 1-6 7-6 3-6 to 23rd seed Kaia Kanepi).
Top seed Victoria Azarenka would be the next to fall, in round four, against 15th seed Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets. Reigning champion, Li Na also fell against Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3 2-6 0-6 with number two seed Maria Sharapova coming through in three sets against Klara Zakupalova.
This left four of the top ten seeds still in the competition at the quarter final stage. Sixth seed Sam Stosur beat Cibulkova today 6-4 6-1. But tenth seed Angelique Kerber lost 3-6 6-7 to Errani. This leaves Sharapova to play Kanepi and fourth seed Petra Kvitova meeting Shvedova in the other two quarter finals tomorrow.
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