Stan Wawrinka will play in the championship match of the French Open after defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals on Friday.
The Swiss, who was bundles out of the same championship in the first round the previous year, advanced into just his second Grand Slam final courtesy of a 6-3 6-7 (1-6) 7-6 (6-3) 6-4 win over Tsonga.
He will face either third seed Andy Murray or top seed Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s showdown match. Play was suspended at 3-3 in the fourth set as storms approach Philippe-Chatrier.
Djokovic, the No.1 seed, leads 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 3-3 over Murray, the third seed.
Wawrinka broke early in the fourth game of the first set en route to a comfortable one set to love lead. The 2013 Australian Open winner put up another solid performance in the second set, earning five break points on Tsonga’s service game at 5-5 but it was the hometown favourite who held and dominated the tie breaker to level a set apiece.
The whole of the 72-minute third set went with serve, but it was Wawrinka who claimed it in another tie-break and went on to break early in the fourth game to close out victory.
Wawrinka thus becomes the first eighth seed in the Open Era to reach the final of the clay Grand Slam.
