In one of the most awaited match of this year’s French Open, Rafael Nadal played his quarterfinals match at Philippe Chatrier against Novak Djokovic on Wednesday. The two big men in tennis were facing one another for the 44th time in their careers. They had their tasks cut out for them. Nadal was chasing his tenth crown at Roland Garros while Djokovic wanted to move closer to the only title, he has never won. As the match began, the Serb showed his intent with his razor-sharp game in the first set, broke Nadal twice and took a 4-0 lead. It wasn’t the best start for Nadal, who was celebrating his 29th birthday. But just when everyone thought about the washed out first set for the defending champion, the Spaniard bounced back to level the score 4-4. For 67 minutes, Nadal kept bringing out his range of shots that made Djokovic move on the back-foot. But the Serb kept the pressure and Nadal was forced to save a set point in the tenth game. In the twelfth game, however, Nadal missed a simple smash and when the Spaniard played a wayward drop shot, Djokovic snatched the first set 7-5. The first few games of the second set were keenly fought but Nadal looked out of focus against some clinical shot-making from Djokovic. With Nadal succumbing to the relentless returns from Djokovic, it was only a matter of time before the Serb took the second set at 6-3. The third set was the story of Djokovic’s dominant play and it was all over with the Serb losing just one game. The 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 victory took Djokovic to the semifinal where he play against Britain’s Andy Murray for a place in the final.
The Andy Murray-David Ferrer quarterfinal was a match between two of the best returners in the game. They went through a scratchy first set until a tiebreak ensued and the Scot edged out Ferrer. In the second set too, Murray played controlled tennis and raced away to a 4-1 lead before closing out the set at 6-2. The Scot continued the surge in the third set with an early 3-0 lead. Suddenly, Ferrer found a new energy and brought a turnaround to command the set. But Murray soon found his touch and led 5-4. A bit of stutter from Murray resulted in surrendering a match point and Ferrer taking away the third set at 7-5. In the fourth, the dominating Scot opened up a 5-0 lead and there was no looking back from there as Murray finished with the score of 7-6, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
Women’s world No.1 Serena Williams reached the semifinal of the French Open by thrashing 17th seed Sara Errani of Italy. Serena had reached quarterfinals by losing first sets against her opponents but she looked in control against the Italian. After taking the first set at 6-1 in 27 minutes, Serena faced some problems in the second from the tenacious Errani. However, Serena found the crucial break in the seventh game to open a lead. But the frustrated Serena wasted four match points before cruising to a 6-1, 6-3 in 66 minutes. Serena will take on Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky in the semifinal. On her part, the 23rd-seeded Bacsinszky defeated Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium 6-4, 7-5 to earn the honor of playing with top-ranked Serena Williams. After the Martina Hingis era, Bacsinszky becomes the first Swiss female player to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since Patty Schnyder made it to the last four of the 2004 Australian Open.