French success on the grass!

2 French players braved the wind and rain at SW19 to record victories on Wednesday. marion bartoli the 18th seed dropped the first set against Michaela Krajectk of the Netherlands before rallying to take the next 2 sets 6-3 6-2. Bartoli used her double handed shots to overpower her 18 year old opponent and now goes into her first major semi-final where she will meet the winner of S. Williams and Justine Henin. Venus Williams thrashed Maria Sharapova 6-3 6-1 as the Russian number 2 seed found it difficult to cope with the windy conditions. Thats means the number 2,3 and fourth seeds are all out of the ladies competition.

in the mens draw Richard Gasquet the number 14 seed beat his French compatriot Tsonga (wildcard) in straight sets. Tsonga has been somewhat of a revelation over the grass court season and defeated Tim Henmans conqueror Feliciano Lopez in the 3rd round, but couldnt cope with the powerful serve of Gasquet. Although the younger of the two, Gasquet has more experience of big matches and this showed on centre court today.