Tsonga pulls off big upset

Semifinalists are set in both divisions at Wimbledon

Associated Press

WIMBLEDON, England

For two superb sets Wednesday, everything looked so routine for Roger Federer, precisely the way it did for so many years at Wimbledon — and nearly everywhere else, too.

Little comes easily for Federer anymore, even at the All England Club, where he’s won six of his record 16 major championships.

Before Wednesday, Federer was 178-0 when taking the first two sets of a Grand Slam match. Now he’s 178-1.

Facing a younger, quicker and better-serving opponent, Federer failed to make his big lead stand up and lost 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to 12th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the quarterfinals. Federer leaves Wimbledon in that round for the second consecutive year, after reaching seven finals in a row from 2003-09.

Nevertheless, Federer sounded defiant in defeat, saying he played well against Tsonga and is sure he “definitely can” add to his Grand Slam collection, even though he’ll turn 30 in August.

“When I was 20, I would have been crushed: ‘I can’t go on; I’ll never get another chance to be in a quarterfinal of a Grand Slam.’ But today, I know that I should probably have lots more,” said Federer. “I don’t have that mental stress.”

The other favorites all won Wednesday, though not without some difficulty: No. 1 Rafael Nadal numbed his injured left foot with a painkilling injection then beat No. 10 Mardy Fish 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; No. 2 Novak Djokovic was a break down in the third set but reeled off seven games in a row to get past 18-year-old qualifier Bernard Tomic 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, and No. 4 Andy Murray pulled up awkwardly after tweaking his hip changing directions on one third-set point but otherwise breezed past unseeded Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

“There are other players that are able to play great tennis, and Tsonga has proved it today,” said Djokovic, who would replace Nadal at No. 1 in the ATP rankings by reaching the final. “It’s all very close at this level, especially in the second week of a Grand Slam.”

In Friday’s semifinals, Tsonga will face Djokovic, who is 46-1 in 2011, the only loss coming to Federer at the French Open. Defending champion Nadal will play Murray, who hopes to give Britain its first men’s title at the All England Club in 75 years.

Although Fish thought Nadal moved well against him and showed no sign of injury, the 10-time major champion said: “My foot is not fine. But we are in quarterfinals of Wimbledon. Is an emergency, so I had to play.”

Nadal is on a 19-match winning streak at the grass-court Grand Slam, and is 31-2 since the start of the 2006 tournament; both losses were against Federer in finals.

He’s 11-4 against Murray, including a victory in the semifinals here last year.

The 26-year-old Tsonga reached the 2008 Australian Open final before losing to Djokovic. He split with his coach in April and has yet to hire another. What Tsonga does not lack at the moment is self-belief.

Asked if he thinks he could win Wimbledon this year, Tsonga replied: “Um, why not?”