Murray to face Wawrinka in semis at French Open

Djokovic eliminated

PARIS — Andy Murray shrugged of a sluggish start, staging a comeback Wednesday for a 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-0), 6-1 defeat of Kei Nishikori and a place in his fourth straight French Open semifinal.

Murray, a 2016 finalist, will next face 2015 winner Stan Wawrinka.

Wawrinka won his eighth straight against Marin Cilic, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

Murray’s win earned revenge for a loss against Nishikori in a U.S. Open quarterfinal nine months ago.

Murray worked out of danger after dropping the first set to Nishikori with the 30-year-old finding a way.

“I’m pleased with how I turned the match around,” Murray said. “It was not a good first set, I struggled at the start of the second.

“But I made adjustments and got myself back into it.”

Murray will hope to repeat his 2016 defeat of Wawrinka at Roland Garros.

At the bottom of the draw, Dominic Thiem dismissed Novak Djokovic, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-0, to set up a semi with heavy title tip Rafael Nadal, who edged closer to a dream 10th French Open title as opponent Pablo Carreno Busta retired with an abdominal injury after 52 minutes, trailing 6-2, 2-0.

Second seed Djokovic will fall out of the ATP top two for the first time since 2011.

Thiem had never beaten Djokovic in five previous matches, but the 23-year-old’s game turned into a juggernaut as he dominated to deny the Serb a ninth Paris semifinal.

Djokovic put up little resistance in the one-way final set, winning a mere eight points. “Nothing was going my way,” Djokovic said. “The match was really decided in the first set.”

Simona Halep made a dramatic recovery from a set and 5-1 down, showing fighting spirit in a 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-0 defeat of Elina Svitolina on Wednesday for a place in the women’s semifinals.

Halep is now one win away from duplicating her 2014 final at the event.S he will face off in today’s semi against second seed Karolina Pliskova, who booked her spot with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 defeat of Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia.