View center court Philippe Chatrier during the quarterfinal match between Britain’s Andy Murray and Japan’s Kei Nishikori at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, in Paris, France. Wednesday, June 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Novak Djokovic’s title defence at Roland Garros came to an end with a straight set defeat to Dominic Thiem. Rafael Nadal, meanwhile, went to the semis on the when his opponent and compatriot, Pablo Carreno Busta retired in the second set. Nadal and Thiem now play each other for a place in the final while Stan Wawrinka will play World No. 1 Andy Murray. Wawrinka beat Marin Cilic in straight sets while Murray beat Kei Nishikori after coming from one set down.
In women’s singles, Simona Halep will play Karolina Pliskova after a hard-fought win over Elina Svitolina. Timea Bacsinzsky faces Jelena Ostapenko in the other semi-final on Thursday. Rohan Bopanna-Gabriella Dabrowski emerged victorious in the semi-final and will now face Anna-Lena Groenefeld-Robert Farah in the title clash
French Open Day 11 Highlights
2210 hrs IST: Murray wins the third set, leads Nishikori, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6
2145 hrs IST: Wawrinka storms into his second semifinal of French Open with straight sets win over Marin Cilic. Trailing 5-0 in the third set, Cilic made a comeback and won the sixth game to extend Wawrinka’s wait. But the Swiss wins the seventh game with a forehand smash to win the game set point.
2137 hrs IST: Cilic seems tired as Wawrinka taking full advantage of his opponent and cruising towards straight set wins. The Swiss leads 5-0 in the third set. While, Murray makes a comeback to win the eighth game to level score with Nishikori. The world no.1 has been struggling and seems drained out in the third set.
2131 hrs IST: Nishikori levels score as Murray hits it outside court. Meanwhile on Suzanne Lenglen Court, Wawrinka edging closer of making it into the semifinals in Paris as he leads 3-0 in the third set.
2121 hrs IST: At the Suzanne-Lenglen Court Stan Wawrinka leads Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-3 and leads the third set 1-0.
2105 hrs IST: Andy Murray wins the second set 6-1. That is a strong comeback from the world no. 1. Both now have one set apiece
2051 hrs IST: Murray on the way to recovery, leads the second set 3-1
2010 hrs IST: Rohan Bopanna-Gabriella Dabrowski are through to the finals of French Open 2017. They beat Andrea Hlavackova-Edouard Roger-Vasselin 5-7, 3-6
1958 hrs IST: It’s Murray who takes the first game of the set.
1952 hrs IST: All eyes now shift to Philippe-Chatrier Court where Kei Nishikori plays Andy Murray in the men’s singles quarter-final
1950 hrs IST: So the semi-final draw for the women’s singles at this year’s French Open is Jelena Ostapenko vs Timea Bacsinzsky and Simona Halep vs Karolina Pliskova
1945 hrs IST: Karolina Pliskova has also emerged victorious, she beats Caroline Garcia 7-6, 6-4
1941 hrs IST: Simona Halep beats Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 0-6. She is through the semi-final at Roland Garros
1932 hrs IST: Halep leads Svitolina 3-0 in the third set. She holds her own and goes on to take the fourth set too
1919 hrs IST: Incredible! Simona Halep comes from 5-1 down to win the second set.
1917 hrs IST: Match point for Svitolina, as she led Halep 6-5 in the tie break but Halep holds her nerve and makes it 6-6.
1914 hrs IST: Over at Court 1, Rohan Bopanna- Gabriela Dabrowski and Andrea Hlavackova-Edouard Roger-Vasselin are level 3-3 in the second set. Bopanna-Dabrowski had won the first set
1913 hrs IST: Halep with the first point of the tie-breaker but Svitolina comes back to take four in a row.
1910 hrs IST: A show of guts from Svitolina, forces the set into tie-break.
1905 hrs IST: It’s set point for Halep. This has been a show of resilience from the third-seeded Romanian but Svitolina doesn’t let up and forces the game into deuce
1858 hrs IST: Halep marches on, moves level to 5-5. The next game goes into deuce after some hard fought rallies between the two players. Halep, on the stretch, puts it out of reach of Svitolina who is at the net. She wins and now leads 6-5 in the second set
1849 hrs IST: Halep staging a remarkable come back here. She was 5-1 down in the first set but is now 5-4
1845 hrs IST: Garcia-Pliskova first set goes to a tie-break. Pliskova gets the better of the French and that means the first set is won by Karolina Pliskova
1839 hrs IST: Svitolina is still going strong with a lead of 4-1 over Halep while Garcia took a lead at the other court over Pliskova 6-5.
1834 hrs IST: Later on, top seed Andy Murray will be in action against Kei Nishikori at the Philippe-Chatrier Court while Stan Wawrinka will face Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals at the Suzanne-Lenglen Court.
1824 hrs IST: Svitolina continues her dominance as she earns the first point of the second set. Meanwhile, momentum has shifted in the Garcia-Pliskova match and it’s 5-5.
1819 hrs IST: Svitolina wins the first set after beating the Romanian tennis player Halep 6-3.
1814 hrs IST: Halep breaks but still trails Svitolina 2-5. Meanwhile Pliskova romps through her service game to lead 5-3 on the other court against Garcia.
1811 hrs IST: Halep finally gets off the mark to make it 1-5 against Svitolina. Svitolina wins break with a forehand smash and set point against Halep.
1804 hrs IST: Meanwhile in Philippe-Chartrier Court, Caroline Garcia stays in touch with a hold to 30 to trail 2-3 against Karolina Pliskova.
1757 hrs IST: Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina are knocking up at the Suzanne-Lenglen. The Ukrainian has pipped Halep 5-0.
1655 hrs IST: HUGE WIN FOR THIEM! Wins it 7-6, 6-3, 6-0! A bachand winner down the line and Djokovic walks out. The defending champion is out!
1647 hrs IST: Thiem is pounding huge groundstrokes and he’s now taken a two break advantage in the third set. And all this time, his serve is going strong as ever. Serving ace down the tee on Deuce side, on the ad-side with huge serves and then winners
1637 hrs IST: Djokovic saves three break points but sends one forehand into the net and Thiem gets an early break into the third. Up 1-0
1632 hrs IST: 37 minutes for the second set and Thiem leads two sets to love. Djokovic shanks his backhand into the net and takes it 6-3! Defending champion is set away from bowing out
1611 hrs IST: Thiem is cruising through here in the second set. He’s in dominant position and Djokovic has no answers. Leads 3-0
1555 hrs IST: An hour and 14 minutes after start, Thiem wins the opening set 7-6. Meanwhile in the other match, Carreno Busta’s journey ends with him pulling out. Nadal led 6-2, 2-0 before his fellow Spaniard called it quits
1525 hrs IST: Thiem levels things at 4-4 in the opening set
1518 hrs IST: Djokovic gets the crucial break and leads 4-2. And now Thiem brings up two break right back points after Djokovic fails to control his backhand. Good serve on Thiem’s forehand and it is sent long. 30-40. Plenty of kick on the serve but Thiem keeps it down and goes on to break. He will now serve at 3-4
1515 hrs IST: On the other court, Nadal has already won the opening set 6-2. Nadal converting all four break point chances he brought up.
1503 hrs IST: Thiem has Djokovic approaching the net and then keeps the racket angle on mark to pass Nole at the net. Brings up break points. Another instance of heavy hitting from the back but Thiem mishits and it goes long. Back to deuce. If first four games are any impression, expect a cagey fight. Thiem comes back to save one game point but Djokovic now has another. And another goes begging. Thiem doing a solid job of keeping Djokovic on his feet and moving. Oh! This time Thiem tries to find the sideline but he misses narrowly. This time he goes down the line for a gorgeous backhand winner. Back to deuce. Thiem with five backhand winners to Djokovic’s zero. Once again Djokvic fails to close the game out. Wind playing a big role in this game. Nole looks to slide the ball back but doesn’t get enough on the angle. Another chance for Djokovic to hold serve. Linesman calls Thiem’s backhand long, chair person says it is in but TV replay suggests it is long. Perils of no technology. Replaying the point. This time Djokovic holds serve. 34 minutes played and Djokovic leads 3-2.
1458 hrs IST: But Djokovic breaks right back and we’re on to level footing. 2-2 now in the opening set. On the other court, Nadal has broken Pablo Carreno Busta and leads 3-1
1450 hrs IST: Thiem is thumping huge forehands and Djokovic is under pressure early on. 160-plus kmph and that coupled with the wind is proving difficult for Nole to handle. Break point comes up and the duo exchange wild forehands before switching to backhand slices. Extremely low backhand slices and in the end, Djokovic sends one long. BREAK! Thiem leads 2-1. Over on the other court, things staying on serve as Nadal leads 2-1
1440 hrs IST: Little context to Djokovic vs Thiem. This is their second meeting in three weeks. Two weeks back they played in Rome where the Serb won 6-1, 6-0. But that came after Thiem got the better of Rafael. On to Nadal then, he has dropped just 20 games this tournament and may not lose many more today as he goes forward in quest for ‘decima’.
