Murray’s Paris campaign was nearly scuppered at the first hurdle when he had to fight back from two sets down to defeat 37-year-old Radek Stepanek.
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Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray will meet in a Grand Slam title clash for a seventh time on Sunday after comprehensive semi-final triumphs swept the world s top two players into the French Open final.
But Murray regained the Initiative in the 4th set with an immediate break before winning it 6-2 to reach his 1st French Open final.
Weather permitting, all semi-finals at grand slam tournaments are invariably played on the main showcourt, but the scheduling backlog means Djokovic and Thiem, and before them Spanish women’s fourth seed Garbine Muguruza and Australian Sam Stosur, will play Friday’s matches on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
However, Murray did figure out the World No. 1 in their last meeting on clay, winning the Rome Masters final last month, 6-3, 6-3.
Djokovic beat No. 14 seed Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 in a match that spanned two days because of persistent rain that has backlogged the French Open.
It is the fourth time Murray has made the last four and the first time he does not have to face either Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic, but Wawrinka is hardly a step down.
It will be Murray’s 10th Grand Slam final. I played one of my best claycourt matches today… Two years ago, Djokovic took hold of the ATP World Tour, leaving Murray and the rest of the field far behind.
The No. 12-seeded Goffin had set point in the tiebreaker and led Thiem 4-2 in the third set before Thiem reeled off nine straight games to lead 5-0 in the fourth. “I had to dig deep to finish the match”.
World number one Djokovic, the victor of 11 majors, is bidding for a first French Open to become just the eighth man to complete the career Grand Slam. “Stan’s record here the last couple of years is unbelievable”, he said.
The pattern came close to being repeated in the second set, with Gasquet again coming from 5-2 down to level, although this time Murray withstood pressure to take it to a tie-break. I played two guys where you get zero rhythm, against (Ivo) Karlovic and (John) Isner. “It was played at a high standard and there were lots of good moments for me”.
But having survived those scares, Murray went into full throttle mode to easily defuse the thunderbolt serves of Ivo Karlovic and John Isner before showing off his full array of tricks to subdue holder Stan Wawrinka in Friday’s semi-final.
The Serb faced 13th seed Thiem, of Austria, and was rarely threatened as he strolled to a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 win to reach his 20th Grand Slam final.
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“I think he’s an fantastic player since many, many years”.
