Tsonga stuns Federer to reach semis

Tennis:  Roger Federer's dream of a record-equalling seventh Wimbledon title is over for another year after he blew a two-set lead and lost his quarter-final encounter to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Tsonga fought back to win 3-6 6-7 (3/7) 6-4 6-4 6-4 on Centre Court to set up a semi-final meeting with Novak Djokovic.

It was the first time Federer had lost from two sets up in a grand slam match - he has played 179 of them - and the loss ended his hopes of drawing level with Pete Sampras' title tally, at least for another 12 months.

"It was amazing today. I played unbelievable,'' Tsonga said. "To come from two sets down - that's crazy. He is the biggest champion in my sport. He's achieved lots of things and he's the best player in the world.

"I'm just so happy to win against him especially on grass because it's maybe his favourite surface. Now I'm here in the semi-finals and I just can't believe it.''

It had all looked so different after Federer had started superbly, breaking Tsonga's serve and serving out the opening set in just 26 minutes.

The second was a tighter affair and Tsonga made Federer serve to stay in the set at 5-4. The Swiss went to 30-0 with possibly the point of the championships so far, ending with Federer swiping the ball into an empty court after some remarkable survival tennis from his opponent.

A tie-break was required, and it was soon 6-1 to Federer, after an ace. Tsonga saved the first set point with a booming forehand and the next with a neat stop volley, but not the third.

Federer, in his 29th consecutive grand slam quarter-final, toyed with 12th seed Tsonga in the opening game of the third set, clinching it to love with a made-to-measure drop shot.

But then came the Tsonga comeback. A backhand fizzed off Tsonga's racquet and across court to help him advance to 15-40 on Federer's serve at 1-1.

Two fiery serves brought Federer back to deuce. The first was challenged by Tsonga, to the crowd's amusement as replays showed the ball was neither long nor wide. Yet the next challenge came from Federer on break point and this time the verdict favoured Tsonga, whose crisp passing shot had flicked the line.

After beating Rafael Nadal at Queen's, where he pushed Murray hard in the final, there was no doubt Tsonga's game was in fine order.

At 5-4, the man from across the Channel served for the third set. He hooked a forehand wide to the left, speared another too far right, but nevertheless came from 0-30 down to take the game on his fourth set point.

A love service game at the start of the fourth set should have allowed Federer to settle down. But Tsonga responded in kind and then engineered three break points.

Some of the heaviest hitting imaginable pummelled Federer out of the third of those. Again, Tsonga had the early break.

A cry from the crowd of "Come on Federer" sounded despairing. Serene in the early stages, as the fourth set neared its denouement suddenly the great champion was anything but.

There was no way through on the Tsonga serve and back-to-back aces gave Tsonga the fourth set.

Another Tsonga break of the Federer serve came right at the outset in the decider.

The upset which seemed unfeasible after the second set had become a probability.

Serving superbly and not allowing Federer a break point in the set - as had been the case in the second, third and fourth sets - Tsonga reached 5-4, serving for the match, and never looked like wobbling.

Federer chipped a backhand over the baseline, Tsonga held to love, and duly treated the crowd to his famous victory dance, lapping up their standing ovation.

Bare statistics can never tell the full story of a match but Federer's were impressive enough to have seen him past most opponents.

Of his first serves, 75 per cent hit the target, and when they went in he won 78 per cent of points.

He rifled 17 aces, committed just one double fault, and had just 11 unforced errors in the entire contest while hitting 57 winners.

Tsonga still edged him out though, and Federer was complimentary when it came to discussing the French 12th seed's effort.

"I think Jo played great,'' Federer said. "I thought I played a good match myself. I'm actually pretty pleased with my performance today.

"It's hard going out of the tournament that way, but unfortunately it does happen sometimes.

"At least it took a special performance to beat me, which is somewhat nice. I think he played an amazing match. He didn't give me many chances.''

An out-of-sorts Djokovic had earlier survived some scary moments to book his place in the Wimbledon semi-finals, beating teenage Australian Bernard Tomic 6-2 3-6 6-3 7-5 on Court One.

The Serbian second seed, with just one defeat to his name in 2011, was lethargic and error-prone against his Australian practice partner, was broken three times and needed a run of seven straight games spanning the third and fourth sets to put him in command.

That run saw Djokovic turn the match around for he was a break down in the third set at one stage.

He will need to play much better if he is to progress into a maiden Wimbledon final, though, and may have some concerns over an injury he seemed to suffer when falling in the fourth set.