Federer, Del Potro make French semifinals

PARIS, June 3 (UPI) -- Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro advanced to the French Open semifinals with straight-set victories Wednesday in Paris.

Federer, the world's No. 2-ranked player, defeated 11th-seeded Gael Monfils, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, 6-4, while del Potro, ranked No. 5, dispatched 16th-seeded Tommy Robredo, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

It is the 20th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal appearance for Federer, who has been runner-up in the last three French Opens. Friday's match against Federer, who is 5-0 lifetime against del Potro, will mark del Potro's first Grand Slam semifinal. The other semifinal sends 12-seeded Fernando Gonzalez against 23rd-seeded Robin Soderling.

Federer took a tight first set after being down 6-5 in the tiebreaker and seemed to break Monfils' resolve at the same time. The second set took just 28 minutes as Federer won 57 percent of the points on Monfils' serve and collected two service breaks.

He recorded the only break of the third set in the ninth game and lost only two points on serve in the set.

Del Potro has lost one set -- that in a tiebreaker -- in his five Paris matches and continued his strong play Wednesday. He blasted 14 aces and had 50 winners against Robredo.