World No. 4 Roger Federer is in fine form at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. On Friday he downed Argentinian Juan Monaco 6-3 7-5 to advance into the semi-finals. Today’s win was the Swiss legend’s 800th carer singles win. “I only heard about it yesterday. It’s nice. It’s a lot of matches, a lot of tennis I’ve played,” Federer said.
The former world number one served seven aces against Monaco during the one hour and 20 minute encounter. Last week’s Basel winner moves on to the semi-final where he will meet with Tomas Berdych.
The No. 5 seed Berdych and former Paris Champion defeated Brit Andy Murray in three sets 4-6 7-6 (5) 6-4. Berdych qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London by winning his previous match.
“It was really one of the best three set matches I have played, event with the quality. All three sets were very close. I’m the happier one today,” the Czech number one said. After splitting the first two sets the match stayed on serve in the third set up to 4-4 when Berdych broke serve. The British number one had a chance to come back having had three break points at 5-5 but Berdych was the stronger one and took out the match.
Murray will now head home and get ready for his hometown end-of-year tournament. “I got good practice going into London, which I didn’t coming in here. I’ll need to work on a few things.”
Novak Djokovic, the 2011 World No. 1 tennis player pulled out of the Paris Masters on Friday with a sore shoulder. Djokovic was due to play against the very popular Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals. Tsonga now moves into the semi-finals with walk over. “I’m very sorry for the tournament and the fans in Paris but my right shoulder is hurting again after winning my first two matches here,” Djokovic said. The Serbian star also left a message on Facebook for his fans around the world apologising for his withdrawal.
“The doctors have advised that I should rest my shoulder and star treatment as soon as possible. I look forward to returning to the court in London and competing at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.”
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will face big serving American John Isner in Saturday’s Paris semi-final. Isner has had a great 2011, winning titles in Newport and Winston-Salem. He was also the runner up in Atlanta. This is the first time Isner will be playing in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final.
John Isner took out World No. 5 David Ferrer of Spain in three sets 6-3 3-6 6-3. Ferrer can now go home and prepare for the London event starting in the next eight days.
The Indo/Pak Express continued their Paris week with a win over solid doubles team and the number two seeds Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic 3-6 6-4 10-6. Bopanna and Qureshi will play against Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor for a spot in the Paris final. Nestor and Mirnyi booked their semi-final spot by winning over Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya 6-2 7-6 (7).
Topics: Juan Monaco, Roger Federer