Novak Djokovic survived a brush with possible disqualification before beating Tomas Berdych to reach the French Open semi-finals.
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The world No 1 will meet the Dominic Thiem in the semi-final after the Austrian beat David Goffin 4-6 7-6 6-4 6-1. “They are trying to do whatever they can do within the regulations, and I’m just hoping that for sake of this tournament and all the players that we are going to have that roof”.
The world number one had little difficulty seeing off Berdych in a match affected by rain at Roland Garros, emerging victorious 6-3 7-5 6-3.
It was classic match-play from Djokovic and with the groundstrokes landing inches inside the baseline nearly every time and his serve, return and drop shot working nicely, he was in utter control.
In terms of grand slam history they have played four matches – never at Roland Garros – with Djokovic taking all of them in straight sets.
Berdych will take Djokovic all the way – his experience, determination and ability on clay will ensure that.
But while Djokovic, who along with Thiem did not clear the fourth round until Wednesday, is keenly aware he has had less time to recharge his batteries, that may just make him concentrate all the harder.
In search of a record-equaling 22nd Grand Slam title, the No. 1-seeded Williams won despite 43 unforced errors.
Rain halted play at one set apiece on Tuesday, but 13th seed Thiem quickly found his groove yesterday to race through the third set before nailing down a place in the last eight. That’s all.” When the reporter pressed the point that Djokovic was lucky that it did not hit the umpire, the Serb said, “Yeah, I’m lucky.
After winning the first set, Bertens got treatment on her left calf, which was taped from the start of the match on a near-deserted Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Not even Rafael Nadal had done that but, while the Spaniard’s trophy collection includes nine from Roland Garros, Djokovic is still searching for his first.
But the Serb quickly wrapped up the next two games yesterday and despite falling a break down to trail 2-4 in the fourth, he stormed back to claim victory on a second match point.
Novak Djokovic reached his 30th Grand Slam semifinal on today to move two wins away from a first French Open title and a career Grand Slam but admitted he was lucky not to have been disqualified. “An absolute circus. We’ve been playing two and a half sets like that”.
Also, the last two women’s quarterfinal matches were being played with defending champion Serena Williams up against Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, and No. 8 Timea Bacsiszky of Switzerland facing Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands.
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Both players took time to find their range in cold, damp conditions and the first three games yielded three breaks of serve, including one that 12th-seeded Goffin conceded on a double fault.
