Day 10: Five on five

“It was incredible from the start,” Djokovic said. “I played really well for a set and a break up. The crowd supported Jo. It was really difficult to stay focused but I was believing maybe I could have my chances. He was playing really aggressive. If he would have won today,he would have been a well-deserved winner.”

Instead,Djokovic got the ‘W’ — his 26th straight in the majors.

After he converted his first match point — a backhand winner down the line — Djokovic leaned back and pumped his fists over and over. Tsonga,who had dreams of becoming the first Frenchman to win his country’s Grand Slam since Yannick Noah in 1983,sat with his head buried in a towel,while the few fans left chanted his name.

It was the end to a remarkable day of tennis that also included third-seeded Roger Federer’s comeback from two sets down for a 3-6 6-7 (4) 6-2 6-0 6-3 over No. 9 seed Juan Martin del Potro. It was Federer’s seventh career rally from down two sets to love. After both the winners rest their legs,they’ll meet with a spot in the final on the line.

Federer will be trying to set the stage for his 17th Grand Slam tournament title,but his first since the 2010 Australian Open. Djokovic will try to set up a chance to join Rod Laver and Don Budge as the only men to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.

Djokovic’s last Grand Slam loss came on the same court last year to Federer,who ended the Serb’s 43-match winning streak — in both majors and non-majors — in the French Open semifinals. “The good thing is that we both have two days off now to rest,” Djokovic said. “And I hope to have another great match like we did in 2011. It’s always a big challenge to play Roger. He’s a fantastic player,a big champion.”

An Aussie touch

Meanwhile,Samantha Stosur is very much in the mix again at the French Open.

Stosur,who followed her 2011 US Open title with a first-round loss at the Australian Open in January,made the semifinals at Roland Garros with a 6-4 6-1 victory Tuesday over No. 15 seed Dominika Cibulkova.

The sixth-seeded Aussie will play No. 21 Sara Errani of Italy,who made her first Grand Slam semifinal with a 6-3 7-6 (2) victory over 10th-seeded Angelique Kerber. Stosur leads the series 5-0,including a 6-3 7-5 victory earlier this year on clay in Rome.

Stosur’s match against Cibulkova was pretty much drama-free,save a minor blip in the second set when,trailing 1-0,she faced three break points at love-40. But she won 13 of the next 14 points to take control and wound up winning the match’s last six games. Stosur made only four unforced errors in the second set.

“Today,in tough moments,she gave me so many good winners,so many lines,and it was just everything going her way,” Cibulkova said. Stosur was the French Open runner-up to Francesca Schiavone in 2010 and made the semifinals in 2009. “The last few years have been very good to me in Paris,” Stosur said. “I love playing in Paris and it doesn’t get any better than this.”

Errani won her first career match in 29 tries against a top-10 player. The second set included eight total breaks,including twice by Errani when Kerber served for the set. Playing in her 19th career major tournament,Errani beat two past French Open champions in her previous two matches: 2008’s Ana Ivanovic and 2009’s Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Paes-Elena enter last four

Leander Paes and Elena Vesnina fought their way to the mixed doubles semi-finals of the French Open with a thrilling 4-6 7-5 10-5 victory over Max Mirnyi of Belarus and American Liezel Huber on Tuesday. Paes and Elena will next take on Poland’s Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico in the final four.

Max and Liezel rode on their better first serve winning percentage and broke the Indo-Russian combo twice out of the three opportunity to have their nose ahead in the first set.

However,Paes and Elena bounced back in the second set breaking their rivals twice out of the four opportunities that came their way. Max and Liezel paid the prize for failing to convert three of the four break point chances. In the end,the Indo-Russian pair saw off their rivals 10-5 in just a 10-minute tie-breaker.