Robredo, Federer complete great escapes in Paris

PARIS: Claycourt warrior Tommy Robredo came back from the brink yet again to beat fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro and reach the quarterfinals of the French Open yesterday.
Roger Federer racked up his 900th tour win and reached the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 defeat of France’s Gilles Simon.
Second seed Federer will tackle French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a place in the semifinals.
The 31-year-old Robredo looked down and out when he trailed by two sets and 4-1 on Suzanne Lenglen court but produced a stunning fightback to outlast the 11th seed 6-7(5), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 after a three-hour-49-minute baseline battle.
It was the third match in a row that Robredo had performed a Houdini act from a two-set deficit, the first player to achieve that feat in a grand slam since Frenchman Henri Cochet at Wimbledon in 1927, and was overcome with emotion at the end.
“It’s funny, because the last three, four years I couldn’t even run that much,” Robredo, whose career seemed in doubt last year when he missed five months because of hamstring surgery and dropped to 471 in the world rankings, told reporters.
“I lost the first, I lost the second, and I had pain in my arm and couldn’t even hold the racket a couple of games.
“Then suddenly I recovered. He was 4-1-up. Maybe he had a little bit of doubt at that moment. Then I just pushed hard and I won the third. Then I was just dreaming and dreaming to try to do it again, and I did it.” Robredo saved four match points on his way to beating Frenchman Gael Monfils in the previous round and before that beat Igor Sijsling, also from two sets back.
When Serena Williams had won the final point yeserday, she paused behind the baseline to urge herself on with one last fist pump.
“Come on!” she shouted, as if her work wasn’t done — which it isn’t.
Williams earned a berth in the French Open quarterfinals and extended her career-best winning streak to 28 matches by beating No. 15-seeded Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-3.
It was her toughest test of the first week, but she swept the last 10 points and has lost only 10 games through four rounds.
“I just want every point,” she said. “Every match I’m really focused for the whole period of time. I really want it every match.”
The 15-time Grand Slam champion next plays 2009 French Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Russian, ranked 39th but rejuvenated this year, beat No. 8-seeded Angelique Kerber 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
With another victory, Williams would earn her first berth in a French Open semifinal since 2003. She won her lone Roland Garros title in 2002.
No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a threat to become the first Frenchman in 30 years to win Roland Garros, beat unseeded Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.