Federer is probably breathing a sigh of relief. Of course, he needs to handle his end of business, but to not have to face Djokovic means he doesn’t have to deal with one rival that’s given him a lot of problems recently.
In a stunning upset, German, Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated fourth seed, Novak Djokovic, who most people had felt was the second strongest clay court player based on clay court season form.
Kohlschreiber wins 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
In that section of the draw that Djokovic was coming out of, the four players are now: del Potro, Tsonga, Kohlschreiber and Robredo. It’s a tough section, and looks good for anyone. On form, del Potro is the one that’s playing the best, with Tsonga perhaps the most talented.
Tommy Robredo beat Argentinian, Maximo Gonzalez (age: 25, rank: 71) in four sets: 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-0. Sounds like either Gonzalez got tired or Robredo caught fire at the end. Robredo faces Kohlschreiber next. Robredo has won all three encounters, twice on clay, and beat him recently in Rome in straight sets.
Andy Roddick cruised over Marc Giquel winning 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. This is the first time Roddick has made it to the fourth round at Roland Garros. Up next for Roddick is Monfils. They have a 3-3 head-to-head record with Roddick winning the last three encounters on hard courts/indoors. Monfils has beaten Roddick twice on clay however.
Although Giquel didn’t win, two of his countrymen did. Despite ho-hum results, Monfils has been having a very nice French Open. He beat lefty Austrian, Jurgen Melzer, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has an easier win over Belgian, Christophe Rochus, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
Tommy Haas beat another Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy, 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Haas has had a history of bad injuries, so it’s nice to see him playing well again. He will face the winner of Federer-Mathieu.
del Potro beat Russian Igor Andreev 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. He appears to be peaking at the right time. However, his section of the draw is very challenging. Up next for del Potro is Tsonga. He leads their head to head 2-0, but they’ve never met on clay.
Federer is having another interesting match. He and Paul-Henri Mathieu have split sets. 6-4 to Mathieu in the first set, and 6-1 to Roger in the second. 3-all in the third.
Tennis Channel probably has a deal with NBC not to televise the match at all so NBC can bring the whole match, tape delayed to viewers. Sad, but true!
CORRECTION: NBC is televising the Federer-Mathieu match live. They are in the fourth set. Federer broke Mathieu late in the third set and managed to hold for 6-4. Federer is up two sets to 1 and just broke to open the fourth set. Mathieu grunts a bit like Ferrer.