PARIS: Novak Djokovic stayed firmly on course to win his first French Open title as he tamed big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic 7-5, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 to reach the semifinals on Tuesday.
The Serb world number two is only missing the Roland Garros trophy to complete his Grand Slam career set.
“It was very complicated against his serve which is so precise and powerful but I’m really happy,” said the six-time Grand Slam title winner.
“It was difficult to return and important for me to keep concentration but I’m delighted to be in the semi-finals.”
The 27-year-old from Belgrade reached his sixth semi-final in Paris, the third best tally in the Open era, as he made it three wins out of three against Raonic, following Rome in May and a Davis Cup semi-final in 2013.
He will now play 18th seed Ernests Gulbis for a place in the final after the Latvian eliminated Czech Republic sixth seed Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. “Gulbis is a very good player, he beat Roger (Federer) and now (Tomas) Berdych in three sets which is really impressive,” he added.
The first set went with serve until Djokovic forced the decisive break at 6-5 to take the opener in 50 minutes.
Raonic, who was bidding to become the first Canadian man to reach the French Open semi-finals, only created one break point on the Djokovic serve which he failed to covert in the first two sets.
Again the second set went to serve with neither player facing a break point heading into the tie-break.
The second set tie-breaker was poised at 4-4 before the Serb reeled off three straight points to take a stranglehold on the match at two sets up. While Raonic fired down 15 aces and 34 winners over the first two sets, but his 29 unforced errors were his downfall. The first Canadian man in the Open era to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final, suffered his second break of serve to open the third set as Djokovic raced into a 5-1 lead. However despite Raonic delaying the inevitable by breaking the Serb’s serve for the first time, it was too little too late as Djokovic served out for the match at the second time of asking.
Maria battles into semis
Maria Sharapova battled into her fourth successive French Open semi-final and fifth of her career with a 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over rising Spaniard Garbine Muguruza on Tuesday. The seventh-seeded Russian, who was the 2012 champion and runner-up to Serena Williams last year, goes on to face Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard for a place in Saturday’s final.
But the four-time major winner and former world number one was given an almighty fright by the 20-year-old Muguruza who had knocked out Williams in the second round. The world number 35, playing in her first quarter-final at a major, was a set and 5-4 ahead in the second set before Sharapova dug deep into her famed reserves of fighting spirit to win through after 2hr 06min on court. (Agencies)