Wawrinka too much for Federer

PARIS — Stumbling on his way to the net, Roger Federer dropped his racket and fell to his knees on the red clay.

Hardly the sort of grace and precision the world has come to expect from the 17-time Grand Slam champion.

There were other unusual sights in Federer’s 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (4) loss in the French Open quarterfinals Tuesday against his pal and Swiss Davis Cup teammate Stan Wawrinka.

“I made 30-something errors today. He, maybe, made one,” said Federer, exaggerating a bit.

According to the ATP, this was the first time since a fourth-round loss at the 2002 U.S. Open — back before he’d won a major trophy — that Federer failed to break an opponent’s serve once in a Grand Slam match.

“I know that when I play good tennis, when I play my best tennis, I can play so heavy from both sides that it’s really tough for the opponent to play,” said the eighth-seeded Wawrinka, who will play 14th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the semifinals Friday. “That’s why Roger was struggling today. It’s because I was playing so well.”

So long superior to the younger Wawrinka, Federer was defeated for only the third time in their 19 headto-head matches, and for the first time in five meetings at Grand Slam tournaments.

“I tried many things,” Federer said. “Obviously I was not going to leave the French Open without having tried everything out there.”

Tsonga’s 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory over No. 5 Kei Nishikori was interrupted for about 40 minutes when one person was injured after a 9-foot-long piece of metal paneling was blown off a giant TV screen and fell onto packed rows of spectators below.

When he finally defeated Nishikori, who was trying to become the first Japanese man to reach the French semifinals in 82 years, Tsonga knelt on the court, then rose and used the sole of his right shoe to write “Roland, je t’aime” — “I love you, Roland” — in the clay.