JO-WILFRIED Tsonga‘s superb run in the 2020 ATP Monte Carlo Masters fantasy tennis tournament continued with the French wildcard joining the world’s top three players in the semi-finals. Tsonga defeated fifth seed, Roger Federer in a tight contest, showing what he was capable of and matching it against one of the top players in the world. The top three ranked players in Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem also progressed through to the semi-finals with respective quarter finals wins, shaping a massive couple of clashes with a final spot on the line.

Tsonga’s win was the most talked about of the lot with a come-from-behind win against fifth seed, Roger Federer after doing the same in his victory against fourth seed, Daniil Medvedev yesterday. Dropping the first set 3-6, Tsonga fought back to win a break late in the second set and level the match, then stormed to victory in a lop-sided deciding set to win 3-6 6-4 6-0 in an hour and 42 minutes. He now takes on world number one, Djokovic after the Serbian star downed Spaniard, Albert Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets.

Djokovic won 6-2 7-5 in an hour and 26 minutes, shaking off Ramos-Vinolas’ best efforts in the second set to post a strong win and advance through to the final four. Expected to make it into the final and extend his lead on the rest of the competition, the Serbian looked in fine form. However up the other end of the draw, tournament favourite and world number two, Nadal looked just as good, completely dismantling seventh seed, Alexander Zverev after the German had a good start to the match.

Nadal won 7-5 6-1 in an hour and 31 minutes, cruising into the semi-finals with some eye-opening shots in that second set. He now takes on his clay court nemesis in Dominic Thiem in the semis. The Austrian will look to overturn their Roland Garros clashes in the past couple of years having booked his spot after a tight win over sixth seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas. Thiem won 7-6 4-6 6-1 in and hour and 47 minutes against the up and coming Greek star to make it through to the final four. The pair clash up first tomorrow followed by Djokovic and Tsonga after that.

QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 6-2 7-5
[2] Rafael Nadal (ESP) defeated [7] Alexander Zverev (GER) 7-5 6-1
[3] Dominic Thiem (AUT) defeated [6] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 7-6 4-6 6-1
[WC] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) defeated [5] Roger Federer (SUI) 3-6 6-4 6-0