Keen observers noted that all four quarterfinals pitted a two-handed backhand player against a one-handed backhand player.  In 3 of the 4 quarterfinals, the two-hander was the higher seed: the sole exception was Roger Federer.

In yesterday’s quarterfinals, Roger Federer lost in straight sets to the powerful Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, leading to a possibility that has tantalized the French for 30 years: a French champion of Roland Garros.

Of course, no one has waited as long as the British to reclaim their own title.  The last British man to win Wimbledon was three-time winner, Fred Perry.  That was 1936, over 75 years ago.  The last American to win the US Open was Andy Roddick back in 2003.  The last Australian male to win the Australian Open was Mark Edmondson in 1976 despite a few Australians having made it to the finals.

The last Frenchman to win Roland Garros was Yannick Noah back in 1983.  Of the four Slams, the French winner is the second most recent, and yet, that was 30 years ago.

Alas, it’s today’s quarterfinal winners that are considered the favorites to win the French title.

Due to some exotic scheduling, both men’s semifinals started at the same time preventing viewers, live or otherwise, from watching both in its entirety, though allowing for the frenetic viewer to flip back and forth between both.

On paper, Nadal had the easier quarterfinal.  He had never lost to Wawrinka, never even dropped a set.  Many felt that 2013 was a transition for Wawrinka.  He challenged Djokovic in the best match of the 2013 Australian Open.  He was starting to fulfill the promise that once lead him to the top ten.  So, many felt he had a chance to upset Nadal.

But, given that Federer pretty much does everything better than Wawrinka, save, perhaps Wawrinka might be a more aggressive hitter off the backhand, then what would prevent Rafa from simply playing Wawrinka like Federer and getting the same results?  Has there been a one-hander that has given Rafa much trouble as of late?

As the match played out, it seemed Djokovic might beat Haas sooner than Rafa would beat Stan, despite Djokovic-Haas being a closer match, just because Nadal matches often run very slow, but Nadal kept on breaking and eventually had a 62 63 61 win, and still maintained his dominance over the Swiss number 2.

The Djokovic-Haas match was more competitive partly because Haas goes for bigger shots and partly because Djokovic hits a ball that’s more like the rest of humanity rather than the arced menaces that Rafa tosses up.  And so Djokovic had a mid-set break to take the first set, 6-3, then needed a tiebreak to take the second set, 7-6, then got a break over Haas, before giving it back, then breaking once again and holding to win 7-5.

Haas had hoped that he would have the kind of magic that lead him to beat Djokovic back in Miami (and once before at Wimbledon), but it was not to be, as the precise Djokovic did enough to win each set.

And the semifinal that, for most people, is the final is set between 7-time winner, Rafael Nadal, and Roland Garros hopeful, Novak Djokovic.  To my mind, Rafa is playing better tennis, but all those wins Djokovic had over Rafa in 2011, and the win in the 2012 Australian Open, and even Monte Carlo builds up a resume that’s not easily dismissed.  Djokovic has to play his best, but if he can do that, he might be able to rattle Nadal.  Meanwhile, Nadal’s goal was to play more aggressive, and he’s done that.

The other semifinals features Tsonga and Ferrer.  Tsonga isn’t the most recent Frenchman to reach the semis of the French Open.  That would be Gael Monfils back in 2008.  But he was such a raw talent, so new, and so untested, that the French would have to be hoping against hope for something like the Tsonga run to the Australian Open final (also in 2008).

This is a great matchup for both players.  Ferrer finally plays someone besides Nadal or Djokovic or Federer or Murray to reach the finals, and this means his best chance to reach his first Slam final.  Ferrer has reached 3 Slam semifinals in the last year.  Many people are rooting for Tsonga, however, because they feel only his power can disrupt either Djokovic or Nadal.  Ferrer has had so many losses to both Nadal and Djokovic, many feel it’s a foregone conclusion that he would lose.  They want to believe against belief that perhaps Tsonga can play out of his mind and beat either Djokovic or Nadal, whoever makes it there, despite the underdog status.

The men get a day off (with Tsonga and Ferrer getting two days off) and will play this Friday in the men’s semi, which many feel, in the case of Nadal-Djokovic, is the final.

Is everyone ready?