Emotional Del Potro ends wait for Roland Garros semis
Argentine makes the semis after nine years with win over Marin Cilic, sets up meeting with ‘King of Clay’ Rafael Nadal
PARIS : Juan Martin del Potro reached his first French Open semi-final in nine years with a 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Marin Cilic, setting up a meeting with Rafael Nadal.
Rain had halted play in the first set on Wednesday but it resumed the next morning in front of an initially sparse crowd on Court Suzanne Lenglen, with Del Potro quickly taking control.
There was a sticky spell for the world No 6 at the end of the second set and start of the third, but he recovered to dispatch Cilic in under four hours.
Having waited since 2009 for a last-four appearance at Roland Garros, Del Potro was in tears in his post-match interview on court as he was reminded of a tough stretch with wrist injuries in the interim. He now faces clay king Nadal on Friday for a place in what would be just his second Grand Slam final.
Resuming at 5-5 in the tiebreak, Del Potro needed only two points to wrap up the first set, with Cilic playing into the net.
That decisive moment prompted an aggressive celebration from Del Potro, but he regained his calm to make a bigserving start to the second.
There was frustration on the fifth seed’s part when he failed to break through in a lengthy fourth game, though, which proved costly when a double fault handed Cilic control of the set at 5-4 after Del Potro confronted a member of the crowd.
The set sparked into life from the point, with Del Potro breaking to love but then falling behind again in the very next game, as Cilic served out to draw level in the match. It appeared the contest had turned when Cilic broke to start the third and nearly made another gain afterwards. But Del Potro rallied, breaking back and edging in front.
NADAL SURVIVES SCARE
Normal service was resumed as Rafael Nadal survived a scare to ease past Diego Schwartzman and reach his 11th semi-final.
An inspired Schwartzman ended the world number one’s run of 37 consecutive sets won at Roland Garros and was a break up in the second when rain halted play on Wednesday.
Nadal came out firing following a short interval to lead 5-3 before play was suspended on a dismal night in Paris and the top seed returned to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 under blue skies. He struck 34 winners and Schwartzman racked up 64 unforced errors as the ‘King of Clay’ joined Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer in becoming the only men to reach 11 semis in the same Major in the Open Era.