Top seed Roger Federer powered into the French Open semi-finals on Thursday, but he was given a scare early on by Chile's Fernando Gonzalez before winning through 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.True to form, the 27-year-old Gonzalez came out with all guns blazing and broke Federer's serve in the opening game. Gonzalez though run off four games in a row to take the first set in just 24 minutes through a mixture of his own explosive shot-making and Federer's uncustomary mistakes.
The two had met 11 times previously since 2004 with Gonzalez winning just once - in their last encounter at the Masters Series finals in Shanghai last November in a group game that had little significance. They also met more importantly in last year's Australian Open final when Federer won in straight sets.
Having dropped his serve three times in four tries in the first set, almost unheard of for the world No.1, Federer looked shaky again as he was taken to deuce at the start of the second set.
He warded off the danger though with a backhand winner down the line and a smash at the net on the back of a powerful first serve. Federer was 0-40 up on Gonzalez' following service game but failed to convert any of his three break points and the Chilean accordingly leveled at 1-1. It was an identical scenario two games later and this time Federer nailed the break at the first time of asking to lead 3-1.
Federer's win put him into a record 16th straight Grand Slam semi-final appearance and left him just one match away from playing Rafael Nadal in the French Open final for the third consecutive year, having lost the last two.
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