On court for the fourth straight day at rain-logged Roland Garros, Djokovic raced through his semifinal Friday with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 victory over No. 13 Dominic Thiem of Austria.
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But he is one of the in-form players in 2016 with his 41 match wins second only to Djokovic’s 42.
“I thought, I just can’t go out in straight sets”, Williams said.
Still, it will take more than rain to extinguish Djokovic’s burning ambition to complete a career Grand Slam, and to become the first man to win four consecutive majors since Rod Laver won all four in 1969.
Ahead of her French Open victory, Garbine Muguruza had said tennis fans seem ready for new faces at the top of women’s tennis after the long domination by Serena Williams.
“It’s the quarter-final of a Grand Slam, always a hard match to play tactically”, said Djokovic, a three-time runner-up in Paris whose quarter-final was played out in a damp chill where temperatures slumped to 12 deg C.
Djokovic’s misdemeanour in Paris yesterday, meanwhile, was similar to the events in this year’s Rome Masters final when his racquet bounced into the crowd.
Bertens is 24, she’s Dutch and this is her first grand slam semi-final.
Berdych appealed for officials to take action when the rain, which has dogged this tournament, returned – but the closest Djokovic came to a quarter-final exit was a potential disqualification in the third set.
Just hours before his semifinal, Djokovic was fined 5500 US dollars for flinging his racquet in the quarterfinals against Czech Thomas Berdych on Thursday when it almost bounced at a linesman. “It was just some unfortunate bounce, but fortunate ending of the scenario”.
Murray finally stumbled at 4-5 down with a couple of unforced errors that allowed Wawrinka to get the break he needed.
Only Djokovic has won more matches this year than the 22-year-old Austrian, who will break into the top 10 for the first time on Monday.
Sumyk, who previously coached former top-ranked player Victoria Azarenka to two Australian Open titles in 2012 and 2013, praised Muguruza for her “magnificent” display.
“Of course semis is a very good result for me but right now I’m really still thinking about the match, still thinking about the loss and after every loss I’m disappointed”, he said.
The imperious world No.1 relinquished just three games in the opening two sets, before finding life mildly tougher in the third as he slipped a break behind.
Dominic Thiem and Novak Djokovic at the French Open.
Murray leads their head-to-head 8-7 but Wawrinka has won their last three meetings.
“I played the best tennis of the tournament so far”.
Djokovic executed his full repertoire of shots, while remaining stubborn in defense to teach Thiem a harsh lesson, going two sets up in a flash after breaking twice in the second set.
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Thiem can boast wins over Nadal and Roger Federer this season but has never taken a set against Djokovic.
