Wawrinka sinks French hopes in Paris

Stan Wawrinka shattered French hopes of a first men's singles champion in 32 years today when he outlasted Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-7 (1/7), 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 in the first of the semi-finals.
It was a consummate performance from the Swiss stylist and he will harbour high hopes of taking a second Grand Slam title on Sunday when he goes up against either top seed Novak Djokovic or third seed Andy Murray.
The 2014 Australian Open winner reached the final in Paris for the first time having lost just two sets along the way.
For Tsonga, the dream of emulating Yannick Noah, the last Frenchman to win at Roland Garros in 1983, was over for another year. The last Frenchman to reach the final was Henri Leconte in 1988.

"It was a huge battle, very difficult physically, a lot of intensity on both sides and it could have gone either way," Wawrinka said.
"He had chances to break me in the third set, but he had a great tournament and deserves just as much as me to be in the final."

The semi-finalists, both aged 30, had met twice before at Roland Garros, each winning in five sets, but their most recent encounter was a superb four sets Davis Cup final win for Wawrinka in November.
That sent Tsonga's form into a tailspin made all the worse by a bad wrist injury that sidelined him until March.

But Roland Garros saw him back to near his best, defeating fourth seed Tomas Berdych and fifth seed Kei Nishikori to reach the semis for the second time.
Wawrinka, a straight-sets winner over countryman Roger Federer in the quarter-finals, struck first, clawing his way back from 0-40 down to break Tsonga's serve for a first time in the fourth game.