Williams was disappointed with her effort against Yulia Putintseva in Thursday’s quarterfinal, and was quick to admit that fact in press.
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Williams, who remains on track to become the first player to defend the title in Paris since 2007, is now just three wins from her 22nd major title, matching Steffi Graf’s total and closing in on Margaret Court’s record of 24.
Bertens, who will be the first Dutchwoman to play in a Grand Slam semi-final since Betty Stove at the 1977 US Open, won her 12th match in succession when she beat Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky, a semi-finalist here a year ago, 7-5, 6-2.
Williams does not mind that too much, comparing it to when she plays in regular tournaments. She stunned the reigning Australian Open champion, Angelique Kerber in three sets.
But he is one of the in-form players in 2016 with his 41 match wins second only to Djokovic’s 42.
From there on it was plain sailing for Williams, with two fast breaks that nearly saw Putintseva go for a bagel, but the world number 60 did get some consolation, holding to 30 in what turned out to be the penultimate game.
ON COURT TODAY IN THE SEMIFINALS Djokovic vs. Thiem, No. 2 Andy Murray vs. No. 3 Stan Wawrinka; Williams vs. Bertens, No. 4 Garbine Muguruza vs. No. 21 Sam Stosur. “I’m just gonna prepare again for tomorrow, do everything what I can with the physios, and we will see how it is”.
It’s semi-finals time at the French Open, and thanks to a rain-logged schedule, all four of the final singles matches are taking place on the same day – Day 13.
And then she suddenly had trouble getting to the latter stages of tennis’ most important tournaments.
She lost the opening set – the first set anyone had pried away from Williams in her past 10 matches over two tournaments.
The reaction was a measure of how well Putintseva played and to the extent she threatened Williams as long as she did.
The world number one’s fourth-round encounter had been delayed for two days because of the rain, but when she got on court the defending champion raced past Svitolina 6-1 6-1.
She will face another unseeded opponent in 58th-ranked Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in the semi-finals.
The 22-year-old Thiem defeated Belgium’s David Goffin 4-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-4, 6-1 to make the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time.
“I felt like in the beginning of the second set I started playing better, but then I let her come back”, Williams said.
The 26-year-old had never beaten Venus Williams (9) before Wednesday’s fourth-round match, but she showed no signs of nerves as she swept aside the seven-time grand slam victor 6-2 6-4.
A double-fault to hand Williams the set eased the rising concern in her camp, where Putintseva’s former mentor, Patrick Mouratoglou, now sits.
“Yeah, I just was not playing my best”. Bertens is now on a 12-match winning streak after coming to Roland Garros on the back of winning the Nuremberg title as a qualifier. “She’s a really sweet girl and it’s always good to see someone like that do well”.
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Novak Djokovic was lucky to escape being defaulted and Austrian tyro Dominic Thiem provided plenty of entertainment as they finally caught up with the bottom half of the men’s draw by setting up a cross-generational semi-final. “She’s fourth in the world at the moment”.
