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Federer rallies to defeat Gonzalez

Monfils stuns Ferrer; Safina pulls off another great escape

— Photo: AP

BUSINESS AS USUAL: Roger Federer came back strongly after losing the first set to prevail over Fernando Gonzalez on Wednesday.

PARIS: Roger Federer lost three of his first four service games on Wednesday, which caused a stir among French Open fans but only briefly delayed his progress to the semifinals.

The top-ranked Federer rallied to defeat Fernando Gonzalez 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 and reach the final four at his 16th consecutive Grand Slam event.

“I was really under pressure in the first set,” Federer said. “I felt uncomfortable. I was missing a lot of shots, and he defended well. ... After that it was a good match.”

Seeking the only Major title he is yet to win, Federer will face unseeded Frenchman Gael Monfils.

Federer lost the first set in 25 minutes but wasn’t broken after that. He won 36 of his final 40 service points, including the last 17 in a row.

Federer closed out the victory with a drive volley winner, then raised a fist as he skipped happily to the net.

By this week’s standards at Roland Garros, Federer’s comeback against Gonzalez was modest. Dinara Safina came within a point of defeat for the second consecutive match, but made the semifinals by beating past fellow Russian Elena Dementieva 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-0.

Breaking through

The semifinal berth is the first in a Major tournament for Safina, the younger sister of two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin.

“I was one step away (from losing),” Safina said, “so I’ll be especially glad to be back tomorrow (on Thursday).”

The No. 13-seeded Safina trailed Dementieva 5-2 in the second set and faced a match point in the next game, but Dementieva dumped a return into the net. That triggered a sudden reversal, and Safina lost only one game the rest of the way.

The big-hitting Safina changed tactics when she fell behind, switching to a less aggressive approach. The strategy coaxed a flurry of errors from an increasingly flustered Dementieva.

“I changed my game completely,” Safina said. “I think she got confused, because I wasn’t hitting the ball anymore like I did in the first set. I was like, ‘OK, you have to hit winners.”’

Safina won five consecutive games to climb back into the match, and Dementieva had to erase three set points in the next game to hold for 6-all.

In the tiebreaker, Dementieva committed three consecutive unforced errors to fall behind 6-3. On Safina’s sixth set point, she skipped a backhand off the baseline for a winner to take the 80-minute set and even the match.

A dejected Dementieva gave away the final set, committing 15 unforced errors while winning only 14 points.

Against Sharapova, Safina also lost the first set, trailed 5-2 in the second and faced a match point in the next game.

Her opponent on Thursday will be another Russian, 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. “Dinara is playing very well,” Kuznetsova said. “She has too many lives, so I have to be careful with her.”

Kuznetsova recovered from her own slow start to beat unseeded Kaia Kanepi 7-5, 6-2. Kuznetsova was runner-up at Roland Garros to Justine Henin in 2006.

Kanepi, an Estonian playing in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, was hurt by her own mistakes, too. She committed 31 unforced errors and lost 16 of 24 points on her second serve.

Monfils’s distinction

Monfils became the first Frenchman in seven years to reach the Roland Garros semifinals when he flamboyantly dismissed Spanish fifth seed David Ferrer 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Monfils had never got beyond the fourth round of any Grand Slam before this year, but his win on Wednesday has now ignited hopes of a home-grown men’s title, 25 years after Yannick Noah’s emotional triumph. — AP

THE RESULTS

Prefix denotes seeding

Men: Quarterfinals: 1-Roger Federer (Sui) bt 24-Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4; Gael Monfils (Fra) bt 5-David Ferrer (Esp) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Women: Quarterfinals: 13-Dinara Safina (Rus) bt 7-Elena Dementieva (Rus) 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-0; 4-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Kaia Kanepi (Est) 7-5, 6-2.

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