Williams bludgeons Kuznetsova, Tsonga shows how to beat Federer

On day 10 of Roland Garros we learn that it's a see-saw life for Serena Williams and the centre court crowd as Frenchman Jo-Wilifried Tsonga beats Roger Federer, the player the French have more or less adopted as one of their own.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga hits a return to Roger Federer Reuters/Vincent Kessler

• It was a day for ups and downs and - what the heck - twists and turns. Part one: Agnieszka Radwanska got back into the second set of her quarter-final match against last year’s beaten finalist Sara Errani after dropping the first set. She looked out of it when the Italian fifth seed served for the match at 5-4. But Errani lost that game. And so to the tie break. They got to five points each. 6-5 to Errani - match point. 6-6. 7-6 Errani. 8-6 Errani. All over.
• Part two: Top seed Serena Williams was her usual brutal self in the first set of her quarter-final tie against Svetlana Kuznetsova. It was 6-1 to the American. But before you knew it Kuznetsova was 5-1 up in the second set up before she got a serious set of the shakes and let Williams back to 5-3. Williams had a chance to break the Russian’s serve but didn’t take it. And it was one set apiece. The third started the Russian’s way as the 2009 champion sped into a 2-0 lead. But back came Williams to 2-2. And suddenly it was 5-2. Kuznetsova lost the decider 6-3.

• That some tennis players are slow on the uptake. Rafael Nadal has been outfoxing Roger Federer on clay for the best part of a decade. In 14 meetings on the surface, Nadal has won 12. Four of his seven Roland Garros titles have come at Federer’s expense. So it seems strange that everyone marvelled at Gilles Simon’s tactic of peppering the Federer backhand in their last 16 match. The gambit worked for about 80 minutes as Federer dropped the second and third set before winning in five sets. French sixth seed Jo-Wilifried Tsonga, an altogether brawnier player than Simon, adopted his compatriot’s ploy and it paid handsome dividends. He thrashed Federer in straight sets. “My coach and I had looked at why Nadal has been causing Roger so many problems … and I tried to do the same.”

• The crowds have taken Federer to heart so much that he’s become French. While Tsonga, who is French, was lathering the baffled Swiss meister in their quarter final on centre court, the spectators were actually rather muted. There was none of the usual whooping chauvinism that has felled doughty warriors such as Serena Williams. It was as if frère was roughing up frère. Even when Tsonga was doing his victory leap, there wasn’t an explosion of joy. Yes, they were happy that he’d done well. But, no, they weren’t content that Federer had lost.
   
• Thirty years is a long time in French tennis. Oh how the country has yearned for a French men’s champion (and they really cannot count Federer's 2009 victory even if they'd like to) at Roland Garros. Yannick Noah, who always said he was Cameroonian when he lost and French when he won - has been sanctified in France since that fabled June day 30 years ago when he beat Mats Wilander to win the Coupe des Mousquetaires at Roland Garros thus ending a drought stretching back to 1946 when Marcel Bernard claimed the crown. Jo- Wilifried Tsonga is into the semi-finals here in Paris for the first time in his career. He’ll play the Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer in the semi-final for a chance to emulate St Yannick.