Comeback Kids: Djokovic, Federer Both Storm Back To Win In 5 Sets

Day 10 of the 2012 French Open had all the drama one could hope for in just four matches: dramatic comebacks (Roger Federer comes from two sets down to beat Juan Martin Del Potro, and Novak Djokovic saves four fourth-set match points on his way to a five-set win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga), dominant displays (Sam Stosur plays “like a man” and beats Dominika Cibulkova, 6-4, 6-1), and out-of-relative-nowhere stories (No. 21 Sara Errani advances to her first grand slam semifinal).

A quick perusal of the docket suggests the same type of well-rounded drama could be on display on Wednesday.

No. 1 Novak Djokovic came back from a 2-1 deficit in his quarterfinal match against No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the 2012 French Open to pull out a 6-1, 5-7, 5-7, 7-6 (14), 6-1, win and advance to the semifinals at Roland Garros. He will take on No. 3 Roger Federer in the next round, himself a five-set, come-from-behind winner on Tuesday.

Djokovic appeared to be on his way to an easy victory after a dominant first set in which he won 25 of the 34 points played, and notched six winners to just one for his opponent. Tsonga regained his form and began teeing off as Djokovic scored on just 30 percent of his second serves. Djokovic’s first serve percentage fell from 71 to just 60 percent from second to third set, and he continued to struggle with his second serve, scoring on just 35 percent. Tsonga won a majority of the points played in the set for the first time in the match, and the upset was on.

Novak Djokovic has fought back from 2-1 down against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to force a fifth set in their French Open quarterfinal. Tsonga played poorly in the first set and looked unable to challenge Djokovic, but rallied back to win the next two sets. Djokovic didn’t look all the way back to his old self in the fourth set, but fought off four match points and eventually won the set in a tiebreak. It’s 6-1, 5-7, 5-7, 7-6 after four sets.

With the set on serve and Tsonga up 5-4, he had two set points on Djokovic’s serve, but Djokovic fought both of them off and won the game. The same situation presented itself at 6-5, with Djokovic facing two match points on his serve again, but he fought off both of them again to force the tiebreak.

Juan Martin Del Potro played wonderful defense-to-offense tennis in the first two sets of his French Open quarterfinal match with Roger Federer, and he took 13 of the first 22 games because of it. But his serve began to spray, and an angry Roger Federer tamped down on the errors, and Federer came back to win, 3-6, 6-7, 6-2, 6-0, 6-3.

Tennis is not big on stats, but the limited numbers available tell you all you need to know about this one:

The wheels have come flying off, figuratively and almost literally, for Juan Martin del Potro in the French Open quarterfinals. After playing nearly flawless tennis and winning two sets versus Roger Federer, del Potro has lost 12 of the last 14 games, dropping the third and fourth sets, 6-2, 6-0. The Argentine received treatment for his knee, while an angry Federer went into Beast Mode.

Here are the only fourth-set stats you need to know:

The No. 1 men’s tennis player in the world is in a 2-1 hole in his French Open quarterfinal matchup against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Novak Djokovic got off to an extremely impressive start, crushing Tsonga 6-1 in the opening set of the match, but Tsonga has willed his way back into the match with a partisan crowd behind him. After three sets, Tsonga leads Djokovic 1-6, 7-5, 7-5.

In the first set, Tsonga made a number of unforced errors and looked frustrated by Djokovic’s defense as the Serbian coasted to a first set win. Tsonga made 12 unforced errors in the first seven games of the match, compared to a total of 24 over the following 24 games. Tsonga started to play much better in the second set and played his best tennis in the third, capitalizing on a mediocre serve by Djokovic throughout the set. Djokovic won 86 percent of his first serve points in the first set, compared to 69 percent in the third.

Roger Federer has struck back in his 2012 French Open quarterfinal match versus Juan Martin del Potro. Down two sets, he easily took the third, 6-2. Federer cleaned up his game quite a bit -- after suffering 28 unforced errors in the first two sets, he committed just five in the third. Meanwhile, del Potro struggled to get his first serve in and was broken twice.

Through four sets and change, Federer has actually won more overall points than del Potro (96 to 94), but his errors-- and a sporadic serve -- cost him dearly at the start of the match and in the second-set tiebreaker.

If Juan Martin del Potro played like this more often, tennis’ Big Three would be a Big Four (or, depending on your view of Andy Murray, a Big Five).

The big man from Argentina is playing tremendous defense against Roger Federer in the French Open quarterfinals, repeatedly chipping back to Federer’s backhand, keeping the ball in the court, then eventually setting up his monstrous forehand. As a result, he just took a 6-3, 7-6 lead over the 2009 French Open champion.

The most-hyped matchups during the French Open are going to revolve around the men’s side of the bracket on Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean the women had nothing to offer in their quarterfinal matchups. With just a few days left at Roland Garros, Samantha Stosur and Sara Errani became one step closer to winning a major tennis tournament.

Stosur entered as the No. 6 seed the tournament and, just like her other results in France this year, the Australian was able to advance in straight sets once again on Tuesday morning. Stosur routed Dominika Cibulkova 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the semifinals.

The top half of the women’s bracket has fallen apart to a degree, with No. 6 Sam Stosur and No. 10 Angelique Kerber the two highest-seeded players remaining. On the men’s side, however, Tuesday will see a couple of heavyweight battles.

Entering the French Open, Roger Federer was looking sharp (he said unironically, as if Federer isn’t always looking sharp). He had only lost in two tournaments since the Australian Open, and he has won more tournaments than Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal combined since last year’s U.S. Open. He dropped only one set to Richard Gasquet, David Ferrer, Janko Tipsarevic, and Tomas Berdych on the weird blue clay in Madrid, then he plowed through Juan Carlos Ferrero and Andreas Seppi (who almost beat Djokovic in the French Open fourth round on Sunday) in Rome before falling to Djokovic in the finals. He has not been nearly as successful on clay through his career as he has on other surfaces (though that has as much to do with the emergence of Nadal as his own shortcomings), but he was looking strong.

The 2012 French Open enters the quarterfinals Tuesday and, unsurprisingly, things are getting more exciting at Roland Garros. Four of the top 10 men’s players who entered the major will match up Tuesday morning in France.

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic will take on one of the local favorites in French native Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Tsonga, from Le Mans, advanced to the meeting with Djokovic following a five-set victory over Stanislas Wawrinka on Monday. Djokovic’s journey to the quarterfinals wasn’t easy, either, as it took him five sets to dispatch Andreas Seppi.