What do the four semifinalists at Queen’s Club, now dubbed The Aegon Championships (and they have 2-3 other similarly named tournaments have in common).  The red, white, and blue!  Oh, so you thought Americans were the only country to have red, white, and blue in their flag?

Obviously not.  The British also have the same colors in the Union Jack.  And they have not one, but two semifinalists.  That’s right.  James Ward beat Sam Querrey, the defending champ in three sets.  But he got even luckier.  He faced unseeded Adriano Mannarino in the quarterfinals.  Although Ward had match point in a marathon second set tiebreak, Mannarino won that 16-14.  Ward had double break point in the third set to get a break ahead, but found Mannarino up to the task of holding.  He was in trouble on his own serve with break points as well, but pulled himself out of that mess.  Then, he had double break point again.  This time, he broke and with it, took the match.

The Brits would be thrilled to have him meet Murray in the final.

This seems unlikely as Ward’s next opponent is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.  Tsonga made a splash a few years ago upsetting one Andy Murray in the first round, but more significantly, upsetting Rafa Nadal in the semis of the 2008 Australian Open.  Since then, Rafa had not lost to Tsonga, but Tsonga caught Rafa at a good time.  Last year, Rafa lost to Feliciano Lopez in the quarters.  At the time, I thought it was a strategic loss.  After all, Rafa plays a lot of clay court tournaments and had just won the French.  Why bother winning Queen’s?  Just play a few matches, get used to the surface, and practice.  He won Wimbledon with this strategy.

Rafa won the first set in a tiebreak and then Tsonga won the second set, then broke Rafa three times (!) to take the last set 6-1.  I guarantee that if Rafa was at Wimbledon, Tsonga doens’t win so easily.  Tsonga, in the meanwhile, was happy about his victory.  He was diving around the court like Boris Becker or his countryman Gael Monfils.  Fortunately, the grass surface is conducive to diving.

So the semis are set: Ward plays Tsonga in one semi, while Murray plays Andy Roddick in a replay of the semifinals from 2009.  Roddick had a very tidy win over Verdasco.  It will be interesting to see what shape Roddick’s game is in.