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French seeds Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils entered the semi-finals of the Japan Open winning their respective matches.
Second-seeded Monfils staged his second comeback in as many days, getting past Latvian Ernests Gulbis by 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Tsonga also recovered from a set down in his second-round match over compatriot Richard Gasquet 24 hours earlier.
The fourth seeded Monfils defeated Swiss seventh seed Stan Wawrinka by 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 .He will face Tsonga for only the second time. Tsonga’s first meeting with Monfils in Bangkok a year ago had ended in his favour.
Lleyton Hewitt also advanced into his third career semi-final in the Japanese capital, ending the dream run of Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin by 6-4, 6-0.
Hewitt takes a 3-0 record into his match with Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who defeated Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych 6-2, 7-6 (8-6).
The 2008 Australian Open finalist Tsonga set up match points against Gulbis with his 19th ace before bringing home the winner.
Tsonga who already has two titles to his credit this season said,"I was serving well, but you also need some luck sometimes to win. I had to stay focussed on my game. In the first two sets he barely gave me a chance. But when I got a break late in the second set, things changed a bit.”
"I think he got a bit nervous and I was able to take advantage, it was perfect timing for me." The loss denied Gulbis the chance at his second career semi-final after his first in 2006.
