They’re here to see Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka, Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem, Serena Williams and Kiki Bertens, and Garbine Muguruza and Sam Stosur.
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Djokovic reached his fourth final in Paris with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 demolition of Austria’s Dominic Thiem to move one match closer to a career Grand Slam. It was tough. I played a good match today when I was on the court, a good match.
Djokovic was playing for the third day in succession after a washout on Monday and just two hours of action on Tuesday.
Early in the third set of his 6-3 7-5 6-3 victory at Roland Garros over Tomas Berdych, the World No. 1 swung his racket towards the ground in frustration after putting a forehand in the net. “Many spectators were wrapped up in blankets to protect themselves from the chill, and the three other women left in the draw should take great heart from the way the sparky Putintseva put the world number one under so much pressure”.
He must have wondered how many more things could go wrong when, serving for the set, he broke strings on two separate points only a minute or so apart.
Djokovic sprinted out to a 3-0 lead in the opener on the back of a break in the second game against 13th-seeded Thiem.
Stat of the Day: 19 – Grand Slam semifinals reached by Murray.
Djokovic had a 4-0 career edge over 14th seed Bautista Agut going into Tuesdays match and won their last clash on clay in Madrid for the loss of just three games.
“To ensure fairness, we needed to start both men’s semi-final at the same time so that both winners can have the same rest time”.
The rain finally lifted on Wednesday at Roland Garros enabling top seeds Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams to progress to the quarter finals.
He had played superbly to beat David Goffin in the quarter-finals but could find no way to penetrate Djokovic’s legendary defences. She continued the run in Paris, toppling four seeded players among her five victims before facing Williams.
Djokovic, who would become the first man since 1969 to hold all four slam titles at the same time should he win a first French Open crown, will play Lu Yen-hsun in round one.
The 58th-ranked player from the Netherlands beat eighth-seeded Timea Bacsinszky 7-5, 6-2.
A French Open victory would give Djokovic a 12th major title – two less than Rafael Nadal – and would also give him four consecutive Grand Slam titles, something no man has done since Rod Laver won all four in 1969.
Only Roger Federer, with 39 major semifinals, and Jimmy Connors, with 31, have participated in more major semifinals in the Open era.
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The Austrian has the game to be a world-beater himself and in his first grand slam semi-final he was far from overawed, but the 11-times grand slam champion came out firing and the pressure was relentless.
