Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beats Kei Nishikori in five-set thriller

Tsonga wrapped up the first set in a quick-fire 32 minutes courtesy of three breaks of serve as his Japanese opponent fired down 12 unforced errors.

The Frenchman was again in the ascendancy in the second stanza and was leading 5-2 – courtesy of another two breaks of serve – when some debris fell onto spectators causing play to be suspended for 40 minutes.

When the players returned to court there was an uplift in Nishikori’s play and he immediately broke Tsonga to cut the arrears to 5-3. The world number five held the next game but Tsonga served it out.

The third set went with serve until the final game when Nishikori took the 12th game to 15 to stay in the match and he then managed to secure the decisive break in the fourth game of the fourth set to set up a deciding fifth.

The momentum appeared to be with the Japanese player but one break of serve was enough to secure Tsonga his place in the semi-finals.

"These six semis, well, that's wonderful, but I have not yet won it (a grand slam title)," Tsonga, 30, told a news conference.

"So six semis, that's all very nice. I have not yet won it. The good thing would be to win one day. The earlier I can do this -- well, if this happens, the earlier the better, because then it will do me a lot of good."