Tsonga sets up semi-final date with Monfils

Montpellier :

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday set up a semi-final clash with close friend Gael Monfils at the Montpellier ATP event after disposing of another compatriot, Gilles Simon.

Tsonga, the number two seed, claimed the first set 6-3 but was left with doubts after Simon came battling back to level the second set on a tiebreak.

Tsonga regained control from the start of the third set and went on to triumph 6-3, 6-7 (0/7), 6-3 to book a last four clash with Monfils.

John Isner became only the fifth player to hit more than 1,000 aces in a season since 1991, when the ATP began recording aces, but that was still not enough for the big American as Monfils prevailed 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

By the end of the match, the towering 25-year-old had 1,011 aces for the year, having put 12 past the third-seeded Frenchman. Croatia's Goran Ivanisevic holds the record for the highest number of aces in a season, having recorded 1,477 in 1996.

In the other quarter-finals Croatian fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic fought back from a set down to beat Finn Jarkko Nieminen in a tie break to prevail 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6).

He will now meet Spanish sixth seed Albert Montanes, who produced the upset of the day in beating Russia's number one seed Nikolay Davydenko 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/4).