Simona Halep beats Elina Svitolina 3-6, 7-6, 6-0!
Karolina Pliskova beats Caroline Garcia 7-6, 6-4!
Men's quarter finals
Andy Murray beats Kei Nishikori 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-0), 6-1
Andy Murray is in the semi‑finals of the French Open for the fourth year in a row, exploding the myth, surely, that clay is his weakest surface. He is now consistent on all surfaces – certainly in big tournaments – and has a fighting chance of finally adding the title to those he has won at Flushing Meadows and Wimbledon.
However, the world No1 – who arrived in Paris in ordinary form and unable to train properly because of a lingering cold – was briefly in danger of following the defending champion, Novak Djokovic, out of the tournament before defeating Kei Nishikori in a four‑set match that he began poorly and finished in style on Court Philippe Chatrier on a warm, still Wednesday afternoon.
Murray, who lost against Djokovic in the Roland Garros final last year, won 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-0), 6-1 in 2hr 39min to book a place in the semi-finals on Friday against Stan Wawrinka, who breezed past Marin Cilic in 1hr 40min.
Murray said courtside: “I needed to put a little bit more pace on my shots. He was dictating all the points in the first set. Once I got a better rhythm, I was able to keep him away from the baseline and that made a big difference.”
Of his semi-final opponent, Murray said: “Stan has played fantastic this tournament. I don’t think he’s dropped a set. I had to play one of my best matches on clay to beat him last year.”
Nishikori broke twice in the first half‑hour, serving out the set without bother, and Murray needed to regroup quickly in perfect conditions once the wind dropped.
At the US Open last year, it was Nishikori who came from 1-2 down to beat Murray in the quarter-finals but, after his uneven win against Fernando Verdasco in the third round, it was still a surprise to see him start so fast here.
The match, predictably, was not without incident. The chair umpire, Carlos Ramos, gave Murray a time violation in the first set and he dropped serve, descending thereafter into a rolling rant that lasted all the way to the fourth set.
At deuce and 1-1 on Murray’s serve in the second set, Ramos interrupted him during his ball toss for a second time violation, penalising him the point, but this time the Scot was motivated to hold – not before letting the umpire know what he thought: “I’ve been on Tour so long and I’ve never seen that. Why did you do it when I was throwing the ball up?” The umpire replied: “Every single point, you are over the time.”
It was the spark that Murray needed – and Nishikori suffered. He handed him two break points with a dreadful smash and Murray was up 3-1. Within minutes, he had to save two break points – the second given up with his fourth double fault – to hold and went on to level at a set apiece.
Murray was coasting, a break up in the third set, when he dropped serve and Nishikori held to love. They worked their way to the tie-break – probably one of the worst shootouts either of them has played.
They swapped breaks again at the start of the fourth, and a worryingly familiar pattern reinstated itself. Coming into this tournament, Murray has handed back the break to his opponents 18 out of 80 times this year. Last year, he held on to his break 255 of 302 times (84%), similar to his strike rate in 2015.
That Murray managed to forge on to the finish line without blemish probably surprised him as much as everyone else.
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Thiem beats Djokovic 7-6, 6-3, 6-0
It is inconceivable to believe and ludicrous to suggest that Novak Djokovic will not rediscover the spiritual drive and technical facility that lifted him to the summit of his sport here only 12 months ago. But there were extended moments towards the end of the defending champion’s shocking three-set defeat against Dominic Thiem on the 11th day of the French Open when that prognosis seemed wholly valid.
Losing in the quarter-finals of a slam is hardly a disgrace. But when the third set screamed by in only 20 minutes there was a disturbing sense of surrender in the Serb’s demeanour. Later, his press conference felt like a wake that turned into a reading of the will, as Djokovic pondered his immediate plans, while giving his conqueror due respect.
While the 30-year-old expects to meet up again with Andre Agassi before Wimbledon, there was an air of uncertainty about their new partnership – which lasted precisely three matches here before the American returned home after fulfilling an engagement to promote a brand of coffee.
Djokovic insists he knows what is wrong with his game but appears unsure how to fix it. When he won the title last year, Boris Becker and the Serb’s long-time friend and coach, Marian Vajda, headed one of the biggest support teams in tennis. Both are gone. So is Agassi. Djokovic looks alone, lost and vulnerable.
He admitted he felt “lost” when losing to Stan Wawrinka in the final of the US Open last year. But before that the world No41 Sam Querrey beat him at Wimbledon, and after New York, Denis Istomin (117) put him out of the Australian Open. At least he lost here to the No6 seed.
His dilemma can be distilled into the unfolding of that third set. Djokovic won eight points. He won six of 20 points on his own serve, two of 14 on his opponent’s. His sole, meagre success was to prevail in the one rally that went longer than nine shots. He hit 12 unforced errors, a third of his total for the entire match. The score tells the story of his weakening resistance: 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-0 in only two and a quarter hours – the same time it took Hsieh Su-wei to beat Johanna Konta in the first round of the women’s draw.
Thiem played very well but, as Mats Wilander, who won this tournament three times in the 80s, observed, Djokovic played as poorly as he can have done “in the past seven or eight years”. He will drop to at least No3 in the rankings on Monday, possibly No4. He has not been outside the top two since he launched his magnificent assault on his opponents in 2011. It seems so long ago.
Thiem’s challenge, meanwhile, is to keep his composure for the semi-final on Friday against a rampant Rafael Nadal, who earlier had the benefit of a retirement result against his Spanish compatriot Pablo Carreño Busta when leading 6-2, 2-0.
As Thiem said courtside: “It’s amazing how difficult it is to go deep in a grand slam. You have to play the best guys round after round. It’s not getting easier on Friday.” It could not have been much easier on Wednesday.
There are moments when champions have to draw on the powers that make them special. Djokovic has recovered from unpromising positions so many times that even when he looked down and out, there was hope. Yet the passages of disappointment began to mount with such alarming regularity that, after a couple of hours, it seemed pointless to hold on to any notion of redemption.
Using the kick serve into the advantage corner, Thiem had drained Djokovic’s normally rock-solid backhand return. He invested a lot of his bread-and-butter strokes with a slice that confounded his opponent and he kept his own mistakes to a minimum, moving like a panther to hunt down the many short balls served up to him. But there was more going on than mere tennis shots.
The first set was close, although Thiem suspected this might not be the Djokovic who hit him off the court in the semi-finals in Rome recently. The Austrian had witnessed his opponent’s occasional struggles in the first week. This was his time. He stuck to his uncomplicated, robust shot-making and, gradually, forced Djokovic to drop deeper, then drilled home the angled winners.
He might have been waiting for the backlash but it did not materialise. At 0-30 and two sets down, Djokovic played a blinding point to get back into the rally. The patrons applauded and the Serb, who lives for love, smiled and raised a defiant fist. But it did not have the fire of old. It was just that: a gesture. Thiem broke his serve, and maybe his heart.
If Djokovic had realistic ambitions beforehand of reaching the semi-finals, his primary objective now was to avoid embarrassment. His ground strokes disintegrated. The net grew larger and the court shrank. Thiem was not looking across at a legend who had won 12 slam titles and probably would collect a few more yet; he saw a wounded bull.
As the confident 23-year-old rested before the final act, leading 5-0, he looked as calm as Djokovic often has done in similar situations. There was no room for pity. He wanted a bloodless conclusion.
Thiem coasted to 40-0. Court Suzanne Lenglen, the tournament’s second arena, went silent. Would he not only bagel Djokovic but not allow him even one more point? Thiem netted a backhand, the smallest of mercies.
He missed a serve – and then he lashed an exquisite backhand down the line. The deed was done.
There were press-box mutterings: did we just see Djokovic give up? Surely not. He had, though, been beaten out of sight by a young man who one day might be as great a champion himself.
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