France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bludgeoned Roger Federer to an historic

defeat to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals Wednesday, as the Swiss star

suffered his first ever grand slam loss after being two sets up.

The

sensational 3-6 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 6-4 6-4 result condemned six-time

champion Federer to his second successive quarter-final defeat at the

All England Club.

It will also spark more doubts over the

29-year-old’s ability to add to his 16 Grand Slams — the last of which

came at the 2010 Australian Open — and cast a shadow over his bid to

match Pete Sampras’s record of seven Wimbledon titles.

For

26-year-old Tsonga, it will be his first Wimbledon semi-final spot where

he will tackle world No.2 Novak Djokovic for a place in Sunday’s final.

Incredibly,

there were no signs of the drama to come as Federer, who went into the

match with a 4-1 winning record over the 12th seed, was in majestic form

early on.

He cruised through the first set on Centre Court

courtesy of a break in the second game, which turned out to be his only

break of the afternoon.

The Swiss was in such dominant form that

the opener took just 27 minutes with the former champion firing 12

winners, remaining error-free in the process.

Tsonga, playing in

his second successive Wimbledon quarter-final, was more solid in the

second, but buckled in the tiebreak which Federer was never going to

relinquish once he had taken a 5-1 lead.

But the Frenchman, whose

career has been blighted by a series of injuries, broke for the first

time to lead 2-1 in the third set with a searing forehand down the line.

He then held his nerve in the 10th game where he needed a fourth set point to cut the deficit.

Tsonga

was now in the ascendancy and broke to lead 2-1 in the fourth set as

Federer, who had lost just two service games in his previous four

rounds, was being out-hit by his muscular opponent.

A 14th ace from Tsonga gave him the set 6-4 and the quarter-final was all-square.

Federer

was almost on his knees, broken again to trail 1-0 at the start of the

decider before Tsonga surged away to capture a famous win in the 10th

game when the former world number one wearily mis-hit a service return.