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We are down to only four in each of the men’s and women’s draws at the French Open and both the pre-tournament favourites – Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek – are still there, and both would be expected to mount the champions’ dais by the end of the week.
Nadal took his place in the semi-finals for the seventh consecutive year after edging out career rival Novak Djokovic in four sets in a match that did not finish until 1:00am Paris time, the result seeing him register his 29th win against the Serb from 59 career meetings.
After the pair traded the opening two sets, the Spaniard dominated the third for the loss of just two games, before Djokovic raised two set points at 5-3 in the fourth set as he looked to force the King of Clay into a second consecutive five-setter.
However, the Mallorcan native would save both of them, then dominate the subsequent tiebreaker to take his place in a jaw-dropping 15th French Open semi-final from 18 appearances.
The only three times he has failed to reach this stage at Roland Garros were in 2009, when he suffered his first loss at the tournament at the hands of Robin Soderling, in 2015 when he lost to Djokovic in the quarters in straight sets and in 2016 when he withdrew mid-tournament due to injury.
It means Djokovic is guaranteed to lose his world number one ranking to either Alexander Zverev, who must win the title to become the first German man since Boris Becker in 1991, or Daniil Medvedev, who lost to Marin Cilic in the fourth round.
The Spaniard will start the prohibitive favourite to advance to his 14th French Open final when he faces Zverev in his semi-final; the German booked his place in the final four for the second consecutive year at the expense of Carlos Alcaraz.
Despite his current world ranking of number three, this was actually Zverev’s first ever win against a top ten player at a Major.
The 25-year-old won the first two sets easily, and dropped the third before winning a tightly-contested fourth set tiebreak to edge closer to reaching his second Major final, after previously losing to Dominic Thiem at the 2020 US Open.
The other men’s semi-final will pit Casper Ruud up against Marin Cilic, who backed up his win over second seed Daniil Medvedev by knocking out seventh seed Andrey Rublev in a five-set quarter-final thriller that was decided in a final set tiebreak.
Showing that he is far from a spent force despite his lone Major title coming nearly eight years ago at the US Open, Cilic sent 33 aces past Rublev, who is still to advance past the quarter-final stage at a Major, and dominated the final set breaker by 10 points to 2.
It is from this match that we will see a first-time French Open finalist, after fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was knocked out in four sets by Holger Rune on Monday night (AEST).
Seventeen years after winning the boys’ title, Cilic has now reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros for the first time, as well as reached his first Major semi-final since the 2018 Australian Open.
He joins only the “Big Four” (Djokovic, Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray) as active players in reaching the semi-final stage at all four Majors, and is now bidding to join them in reaching the final at each of them.
As for Ruud, he is bidding to become the first Norweigan man to reach a Major final, having broken new ground for his country by getting past the fourth round for the first time.
The 23-year-old put an end to the surprise run of Holger Rune with a four-set victory, following a third set tiebreak that could’ve turned the match either way.
The two women’s semi-finals will be contested on Thursday night, with Iga Swiatek to start the hottest of favourites to reach her second final at Roland Garros when she comes up against Daria Kasatkina in the top-half semi-final.
After surviving a major scare against Zheng Qinwen in the fourth round, the world number one was back to her typically ruthless best against 11th seed Jessica Pegula, registering another straight sets win to extend her current winning streak to 33 matches.
This marked her 19th match win at the French Open, but having turned 21 the day before, it meant she fell just one short of Ana Ivanovic’s record of winning 19 matches at the clay court Major before turning 21 this century.
Kasatkina reached her first Major semi-final by defeating countrywoman Veronika Kudermetova, who benefitted from a third-round retirement by Paula Badosa and also came from a set down to oust Madison Keys in the fourth, in straight sets.
The other semi-final pits unseeded Italian Martina Trevisan up against American 18th seed Coco Gauff, after both ousted former Major finalists Leylah Fernandez and Sloane Stephens in their respective quarter-finals.
Their exits mean that we will have a first-time Major finalist from the bottom half of the draw and it is 18-year-old Gauff who would start as the favourite as she continues her meteroic rise up the tennis rankings.
Trevisan, whose victory over Fernandez was her first against a seeded player at this tournament, is hoping to become the first woman from her country to reach a Major final since Roberta Vinci and Flavia Pennetta contested an all-Italian final at the 2015 US Open, and first at Roland Garros since Sara Errani a decade ago.
Women’s semi-finals – from Thursday night (AEST)
[1] Iga Swiatek (POL) vs [20] Daria Kasatkina
Martina Trevisan (ITA) vs [18] Coco Gauff (USA)
Men’s semi-finals – from Friday night (AEST)
[5] Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs [3] Alexander Zverev (GER)
[8] Casper Ruud (NOR) vs [20] Marin Cilic (CRO)
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