Fed gone with the wind; Safarova, Ana in semis

Paris, June 2

Stanislas Wawrinka trumped fellow Swiss Roger Federer at a Grand Slam for the first time with a 6-4 6-3 7-6(4) victory in the French Open quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Forever in the shadow of his more celebrated compatriot, Wawrinka finally got the better of Federer at a major on his fifth attempt to set up a semi-final date with home favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-1 6-4 4-6 3-6 6.

Second seed Federer’s normally smooth racket rhythm lost all of its usual precision as gusting winds tore through Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Ana Ivanovic and Lucie Safarova will clash for a place in the French Open final after comfortably defeating younger rivals at a windswept Roland Garros. 

Ivanovic reached her first Grand Slam semifinal in seven years when she beat Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-2 while Safarova booked a place in the last four for the first time by seeing off Garbine Muguruza 7-6 (7/3), 6-3. Serb seventh seed Ivanovic, 27, last made the semifinals of a major on her way to her only Grand Slam title in Paris in 2008.

It will be her fifth last-four appearance at a major following similar runs to the 2007 and 2008 semifinals at Roland Garros, Wimbledon in 2007 and the Australian Open in 2008. Ivanovic has now won all her seven meetings against Svitolina, seven years her junior. Ivanovic and Svitolina, who was bidding to become the first Ukrainian woman to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam, exchanged breaks in the second and third games of the opening set. 

Three hurt as side panel falls on crowd

Three fans were hurt as a side panel from the scoreboard fell on the crowd from the upper part of Court Philippe Chatrier.

The incident occurred during the quarter-final between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori. Security guards are evacuated spectators — more than 200 of them — from seats under the giant TV screen that shed a large piece of metal paneling in strong winds.

Pranjala enters junior doubles quarters

Pranjala Yadlapalli and her seventh seed Chinese partner Wushuang Zheng cruised past the unseeded pairing of Anastasia Gasanova and Maia Lumsden 7-5 6-4 to enter the junior doubles quarterfinals. Sumit Nagal lost 6-2 3-6 4-6 to eighth seed Korean Yunseong Chung in Round 2. — Agencies

Results (Quarterfinals) 

Men’s Singles: 14-J Tsonga (France) bt 5-K Nishikori (Japan) 6-1 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-3; 8-S Wawrinka (Switzerland) bt 2-R Federer (Switzerland) 6-4 6-3 7-6(4)

Women’s Singles: 13-L Safarova (Czech Republic) bt 21-Garbine Muguruza Blanco (Spain) 7-6(3) 6-3; 7-A Ivanovic (Serbia) bt 19-E Svitolina (Ukraine) 6-3 6-2