Federer returns to French Open semis

PARIS, May 31 (UPI) -- Roger Federer advanced to his sixth French Open semifinals berth with a straight-set victory Tuesday over Gael Monfils.

Federer, who hasn't lost a set at this year's tournament as the No. 3 seed, ousted the Paris-born Monfils 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3). He's been in the semifinals at the French Open in six of the last seven years and won the event in 2009.

Monfils made the most of his chances -- converting 3-of-4 break-point opportunities -- but Federer won more points (82-73) of Monfils' serve than Monfils and had five breaks.

Monfils stayed in the game through the third set but Federer won the first three points of the tiebreaker and was up 6-1 before putting the match away.

In Friday's semis, Federer will go against world No. 2 Novak Djokovic, who claimed his semifinal berth when Fabio Fognini announced Monday he was injured and couldn't play Tuesday.

Federer is 13-9 versus Djokovic lifetime but 0-3 this year. Federer, however, is the last person to have beaten Djokovic, winning in the semifinals of last year's World Tour Finals.

Earlier Tuesday, fourth-seeded Andy Murray earned a quarterfinals match against Juan Ignacio Chela by finishing off a 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 victory over 15th-seeded Viktor Troicki.

Troicki built a two-set lead only to have Murray come back and tie the match before play was called Monday because of darkness. The two returned Tuesday for the fifth set, which took 66 minutes.

Troicki went up 5-2 with a fifth-set break but Murray held at love, broke back by winning four straight points and tied things with another hold. He then jumped out to a 0-40 lead and two points later was on the verge of advancing.

It was the fifth time in his career that Murray rallied from a two-set deficit to win.

Murray and Chela will decide one half of the top half of the draw's semifinal. The other will be either world No. 1 Rafael Nadal or fifth-seeded Robin Soderling. Nadal is 42-1 lifetime at the French Open. The only loss was to Soderling.