French Open quarter-finals: Swiss stars Federer and Wawrinka face off
Published:
All-time tennis great Roger Federer will once again tangle with compatriot Stan Wawrinka at Roland Garros, and Coral make the Switzerland star 8/1 for a second French Open crown this year.
In the other quarter-final in the bottom half of the draw, home hope Jo-Wilfried Tsonga clashes with 15/2 tournament third-favourite Kei Nishikori.
Although Federer has a hugely dominant 16-2 head-to-head record against Wawrinka, those two losses have come on clay. Based on that, tasty odds of 2/1 on the Swiss number two are worth considering.
However, Federer has won all four other encounters on that surface, including two straight sets victories at Roland Garros in back-to-back years (2010 and 2011).
This justifies his status as odds-on 2/5 match favourite. If it weren’t for Federer dropping a set against Gael Monfils in the last round, backing him to beat Wawrinka in three again at 2/1 would be well worth considering.
Wawrinka is closing the gap on Federer, now 33, and this could go the distance. For Federer to win 3-2, there are odds of 11/2. If it’s Wawrinka to win in five sets, take odds of 13/2.
Nishikori and Tsonga will clash on clay for the first time here, and the Japanese tennis ace holds a handsome 4-1 head-to-head record against the French Open’s last domestic man standing.
The rising star of the Far East also took their only previous Grand Slam meeting in five sets at the Australian Open back in 2012.
Based on these stats, fifth seed Nishikori is odds-on 2/7 favourite for victory, and 11/2 to come through another classic contest that goes the distance.
It was hard to make a case for Tsonga against fourth round foe Tomas Berdych, and yet he won in four sets to get through to the quarters. An 11/4 outsider to reach the semis, he’s also a 7/1 shot to advance 3-1 again.
Coral betting tip: We fancy Federer to come through his all-Swiss session with Wawrinka in four sets at 5/2.
