French Open: Quarterfinal Daze, Pt.1

[ Editor's Note: Galileo is currently in a daze over what happened at Roland Garros. He'll talk about the Rafa carnage tomorrow. The good news: under hypnosis, we were able to extract his review of the FIRST half of the men's quarterfinals! ]

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

Quiz: Who was the first French man to make a semi-final in Roland Garros in the Open era? The answer is below.

But, really, the French have not had much success here in their own backyard. Two winners since 1968. Pierce and Noah. 1983 and 2000. They've barely even had finalists. Pierce made three finals.

Australians have dominated their event. Newcombe, Rosewall and Laver. Court and my Evonne, too, have won a few there. America has had a slew of players taste success of some sort. From finalist Courier to Roddick to Sampras and Agassi. And for the ladies, Evert and the Williams sisters. Even the Brits have had some success, though mainly on the other side. And the irony that they so badly wanted the quintessential Scotsman to win at the All-England Club should not be lost on anyone. In fact, that shows how desperate they were for a winner. For any winner.

1992, 1998, 2001, 2008, 2013. The last five times France had a semi-finalist. Leconte was a big hitting lefty with a cheeky smile painted onto his face. Four years after making the final, he took a wild card and got to the semi-finals. He did not lose a set on the way to the quarters, either, beating fourth seeded Stich in straight sets. He came back from two sets down against Kulti. But the 29-year old lost to Korda in three straightforward sets.

Pioline lost his first nine singles finals and ended up with a 5-12 record. He needed five and four sets in his first two matches at the 1998 French Open. Then he swept aside 10th seed Karjicek before beating qualifier Safin in five in the fourth round. Yes, that Safin. Then he beat Azari in five before getting just nine games against Corretja in the semi. He just ran out of energy.

Grosjean was seeded tenth at the 2001 French Open. Apart from a couple of scares, he got through to the quarters safely. He was in the Sampras bit, which was fortunate. He then beat Agassi 1-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3. Corretja put him out in three sets but he did better than Pioline. But still the French cannot seem to find their champion.

Monfils beat Clement and Horna in 2008. Then he beat Melzer in five and Ljubicic in four. Gael also rolled through to beat Ferru in four. He played with athleticism, but Federer was too strong in the end. Tsonga has made two semi-finals at every slam. Except the U.S. Open. He made his first French semi in 2013. Nieminen, Chardy and Troicki were all brushed away in straight sets. Tsonga was cruising. And then he beat Federer in three convincing sets. But he collapsed against Ferrer. What is it with these Frenchies and losing to the Spanish?

Maybe this time the French have found their hero.

PHILIPPE CHATRIER: TSONGA D. NISHIKORI
....Six semi-final appearances from Frenchman since 1992 is a poor record. The crowd gets on their side and they have had some serious talent, too. They have no excuses for the fact they haven't had a champion of their own for thirty years. France has had some of the best and most exciting players our sport has seen. Noah and Leconte were not consistent, but they were brilliant. Tsonga led Kei 6-1, 5-2 and was about to serve for the second set. Then the stadium decided to break. And the players had to leave. Tsonga barely clung onto the first set but did take a two sets to none lead, leading 6-1, 6-2. But Nishikori had all the momentum and Tsonga just went away. Kei evened it out by taking the next two 6-4, 6-3. With the match delicately poised, it looked like it could go any way. But Tsonga pulled out a great fifth set and won it 6-3.
Nishikori hit 52 errors. He really struggled when serving, too. Tsonga won more than 40% of return points. Kei has to do some serious upgrade work on that serve. Wawrinka has bested Tsonga over five sets once, and Tsonga has bested Wawrinka in five here, too. It really is a toss-up but Tsonga likely has the best chance of winning in the final. Still, it's difficult to make a call one way or another. Wawrinka cannot defend brilliantly, but then neither can Tsonga. If Wawrinka can mix it up consistently he will give himself a fantastic chance to win. Tsonga is going to try and hit through Vavsy. Stan can't let that happen. He has to hit the first big shot in each rally. He also needs to make Tsonga move.
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SUZANNE LENGLEN: WAWRINKA D. FEDERER
...Perhaps it's my bias. Perhaps it is simply because it's Federer. But, really, the fact he hasn't had a brilliant year is something I've overlooked until now. Third round and quarterfinal at a slam. A 29-6 record and three titles. It's solid and definitely top four. But if it were another player would I doubt their number two credentials? Yes. But on balance the benefit of the doubt should be given here. And, of course, for 33 years old, Federer is exceptional. And if Djokovic loses in the first round of Wimbledon or gets a bad injury, then the world number one ranking is there. Still, doubts remain. Good performances at the last two slams would answer any questions. Wawrinka never gave the old man a chance as he won 6-4, 6-3, 7-6[4]. There was a shocking line call in the breaker but apart from that Wawrinka just out-hit Roger. Fed never got a chance to be in it. He played alright, he just couldn't handle Wawrinka. Fed hit 7 aces and 28 winners. But Vavsy hit an astonishing 43 winners and never lost his serve. In fact, Federer won just 22 points on his opponent's serve. Wawrinka had 92 points on his serve and won 70 of them. It was that kind of day. Wawrinka and Tsonga will both be seeded highly at Wimbledon. Of course, both of them could and should do very well. Federer will certainly be seeded second and Murray probably third. The fourth seed is up for grabs and it will make all the difference.
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Any other notes?

* - The bird deterrent fell off and almost killed someone. Everyone is alright, but it was still a worrying moment.
* - Casey Dellacqua and her partner Shvedova have made the semi-finals and will meet the second seeded Russian pair of Makarova/Vesnina. The twelth seeds dealt with the thirteenth seeds 6-3, 7-5.

ANSWER: If you answered with Jean-Claude Barclay to my question then you can have 1000 trivia points. Here are his final stats. Pretty good, no?



Francois Jauffret lost to compatriot Georges Goven in four in the semi-finals of the 1970 French Open. Have 500 trivia points if you got that. Those two reached the men's doubles semi-finals in 1970, too. They played together.

Well, I'm out for now.


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