Baby-faced, yet a ball crusher, Thiem’s comeback 4-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 6-1 win over pal David Goffin meant the 22-year-old became the third Austrian man to land in a grand slam semifinal after left-handers Thomas Muster and Jurgen Melzer.
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Thiem, who had achieved his best Grand Slam result by reaching the quarter-finals, has won more matches (25) on clay this year than any other player.
Women’s semi-finals at Roland Garros are usually played on Thursday and the men’s on Friday. I think he’s a little bit on a different level than all the other players, but still I’m in good shape and the match starts at 0-0.
“I was lucky there”, Djokovic admitted.
Well, he won his 26th consecutive match in a major and is into, believe it or not, his 30th career Grand Slam semifinal and his sixth straight at Roland Garros. He lost the set on his serve when he buried a forehand into the net. There, Djokovic sent cracking returns at sharp angles to eventually break Thiem and take a 2-0 lead.
In a battle of tennis’ top man against his possible future replacement, Novak Djokovic has taken the first set of his French Open semifinal against Dominic Thiem.
The Swiss dropped out of the French Open at Roland Garros, which concludes this weekend, with a back injury.
“I am extremely proud”. I’m sure that they’ve already heard a million times that we a need roof, that we need lights.
“I played my best tennis at the right moment, I’m happy about that”. The current world No1 and tournament favourite produced a topsy-turvy performance in front of a sparse crowd on the Philippe-Chatrier Court to advance into the last four of the event.
The last time a French Open final was completed on a Monday was in 2012, when Nadal beat Djokovic.
After a welcome day of rest, he will face Andy Murray in Sunday’s final.
“He’s been at the top of the game now for a number of years and is still improving”, Murray said.
Williams converted her second set point in the ensuing game courtesy of a Putintseva double fault. Djokovic has had 22 or less unforced errors in four of his six matches and has hit 45 winners in his last two matches.
Earlier in the day, Serena Williams booked her place in the final by beating Kiki Bertens 7-6(7) 6-4.
Thiem holds the momentum for the remainder of the match, allying his powerful groundstrokes with precision to win the next two sets, 6-4, 6-1. So I’m very pleased with the way things are going.’ But he praised Thiem too: ‘He carries himself very well on and off the court for his age.
A year ago in Paris, Bacsinszky reached her lone major semifinal before losing to Williams’ young sister Serena. I know his game; he knows mine.
“The rallies were very long and very tough”.
Muguruza, who like Djokovic was demoted to Suzanne Lenglen Court for her semi, ended the run of 2010 runner-up Samantha Stosur with a no-nonsense 6-2 6-4 win in front of thousands of empty green chairs in the 10,000-seater arena.
Berdych would at show more of a fight in the second set.
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Djokovic was just as untouchable in the second set despite playing for a fourth successive day as the slightly faster conditions played into his hands.
