Tennis: Come in number 5 - Ferrer bides time as Tsonga looms

World number five David Ferrer. It seems a faintly underwhelming epithet which should speak volumes in an era of men’s tennis dominated by four men.

But the softly spoken Spaniard says he shouldn’t be underestimated after reaching the semi-finals at the French Open for a second straight year particularly with Roger Federer now out, courtesy of next opponent Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, while Andy Murray scratched through injury.

Ferrer may not have the cachet of defending champion Rafael Nadal or top seed Novak Djokovic, the other members of the top four who currently dominate the game.

Yet he does have the advantage of having won all five of his encounters in Paris in straight sets, spending just nine hours on court, keeping him ultra-fresh.

The 31-year-old, beaten in last year’s semi-finals by Nadal, stands second only to the seven-time champion on the Spanish all-time list of Grand Slam match winners — Tuesday’s thrashing of another Spaniard, Tommy Robredo, for the loss of just four games being his 102nd Slam singles success.

Even so, sixth seed Tsonga’s 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 rout of Federer suggests that Ferrer will find once again that the semi marks his Roland Garros high watermark.

Yet Tsonga will beware a man who leads him 2-1 in their career series to date, even if a raucous Parisian crowd will be rooting for the Frenchman.

“David is a very good player and he beat me a few times. I expect a tough match but I’m in good shape and I will just do my best and see how it goes,” said Tsonga.

Among the Spanish legion of claycourters Ferrer could never lay claim to the ‘swashbuckling’ adjective which so defines Nadal.

Yet if he ploughs an unspectacular furrow he did land seven titles last season to finish in the world top ten for a fourth time, while he earlier this year landed his 20th singles title in Buenos Aires for his tenth triumph on clay.

“I am really up for this meeting” with Tsonga. “It’s my second semi-final at Roland Garros and it’s a very important juncture of my career,” Ferrer said.

“It’s normal the crowd will be rooting for Tsonga. But you have to shut out the crowd. I feel in really good form and great shape which is important.”

Ferrer beat his French rival, who towers fully 13 centimetres (five inches) over him, in Rome in 2010 and again on hardcourt in Paris last autumn on his way to the title but lost in the round of 16 at 2011 Wimbledon.

But he says: “They were close matchups. Whatever the rankings you give it what you can.

“Knowing that you are on form is what gives you an extra spark.”

Three years older than 28-year-old Tsonga, who will be competing in his first Roland Garros semi-final – the Frenchman was Australian Open runner-up five years ago – Ferrer says the veterans are increasingly having their day with 30 no longer seen as their basic sell-by date.

“It shows we are standing up to things better and getting fewer injuries. Also, younger players are coming in later than they once did.

“We veterans are holding up better than before,” Ferrer insisted, noting that 35-year-old Tommy Haas is bolstering that trend as he takes on Novak Djokovic in a Wednesday quarter-final where he will be the third oldest man ever to compete in the last eight.

Ferrer says his meeting with Tsonga is just “another match”, albeit one, which could catapult him into a maiden Grand Slam final.

Above all, the Spaniard doesn’t want to count any chickens.

“To beat Federer in three is really going some,” he said admiringly of Tsonga.

Asked what he had to watch out for in the Frenchman’s armoury he said unhesitatingly: “Above all, his serve – he has a great first serve I will have to be right on it.

“If I win then it’ll be my first Grand Slam final. And if I don’t, well I don’t know.”