• AEGON Championships

Ward's dream week leads to semi-final with Tsonga

James Ward's serve was too much for Adrian Mannarino © Getty Images

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British starlet James Ward's superb performance at the AEGON Championships will see him face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals after he despatched Adrian Mannarino in a thriller on Friday.

Ward, ranked 216 in the world, has already beaten Stanislas Wawrinka and defending champion Sam Querrey this week, the latter of whom he finished off on Friday morning having returned to court locked at one set apiece.

He then had to emerge from the dressing room for his second match on Friday, against an opponent in Mannarino who, by comparison to Ward's previous two conquests, is a relative unknown despite ranking 162 places higher than the British No. 2 in the ATP Tour rankings.

Ward has made a mockery of reputations all week though, and after he suffered the agony of dropping the second set after serving for the match, he hit back from a break down in the decider for a 6-2 6-7(14) 6-4 triumph.

Ward's serve has been his major weapon all week, and he got 80 per cent of first serves in during the first set, dropping just four points when Mannarino was returning to cruise into a 1-0 advantage.

He then converted the only break point of the opening nine games in the second set to serve for the match, only to be pegged back at the vital moment. Mannarino rallied to force the tiebreak, during which Ward wasted more chances to close out the match as he relented 16-14.

The momentum was now with the Frenchman who broke immediately in the deciding set. It appeared Ward's challenge may have faded but he found a response for parity at 2-2, and repeated the trick as Mannarino served to stay in the match, breaking to set up a meeting with Tsonga, who beat Rafael Nadal.

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