In a bid to reach his first ever French Open final, world no. 2 Andy Murray dispatches of the lone remaining Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals. He’s been a little bit inconsistent this year, but he won the tournament last week (in Geneva) and has been playing better with each match here.
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But Murray started in ruthless fashion, breaking his opponent in the opening game before going on to close out the set with a dominant performance on his own serve to become Britain’s first French Open finalist since Bunny Austin in 1937 and set up yet another final date with Djokovic.
In addition to trying to complete a career Grand Slam, Djokovic will be hoping to accomplish something even more rare – winning a fourth consecutive major title, something that hasn’t been done by a man in almost a half-century.
“It was very, very important to win the second set because it was a very physical match up to that point”, said Murray, who reverted to his grinding form after trouble in the first two rounds of the event.
He will now face defending champion Stan Wawrinka in his 19th Grand Slam semi-final – the same as tennis legends John McEnroe and Stefan Edberg.
Murray and Gasquet are both 29, and Gasquet was the more talented early on, winning their first two meetings in 2006 and 2007 – the year Gasquet reach the Wimbledon semifinals as a 21-year-old.
Murray had lost his previous three semifinals at Roland Garros, including a five-setter against Djokovic a year ago.
The Scot served out comfortably for the second set and he was in complete control of the match at that stage with Wawrinka struggling to cope with his pace and power.
Murray’s recent losses to the Swiss can be explained away quite simply.
Murray will meet Stan Wawrinka in the semi-final. Succeed in making it 28 this time, and he will have pulled off a ideal run through the past four majors, starting with Wimbledon’s grass and the U.S. Open’s hard courts last season, and the Australian Open’s hard courts this season.
Even the steady chants of “Waw-rin-ka, Waw-rin-ka” from the noisy crowd could not distract Murray or deny him a win that means he had now reached the title match at all four majors. Therefore, as I kept on repeating, he’s in the Big 4.
Djokovic leads 23-10 and is 4-2 against him in grand slam finals.
Djokovic and Murray, born a week apart in May 1987, are not the only ones in pursuit of records in Paris. The world no. 4 Wawrinka however, has won the last three matches over Murray in a period dating back to 2013.
With rain creating a compressed schedule, Djokovic will be on court for a third day in a row on Thursday.
“He was just too strong today”, Thiem explained.
But Murray, who’s also been known to have a few “Who am I?” When Murray whipped a Gasquet smash back into the open court, the Frenchman hid his face in his hands.
The Serbian is aiming to join an elite list of players to have won every Grand Slam.
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“By the end Ramos played better and I made mistakes. I don’t know if, in a way, they worked in the long term”.
