Murray finds form in the nick of time to seal win
ATIME violation helped kick Andy Murray into gear as he defeated Kei Nishikori to set up a French Open semi-final rematch against Stan Wawrinka.
Murray was completely outplayed in the opening set by Nishikori, but fought back to win 2-6 6-1 7-6 (7/0) 6-1 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Murray said: “He was dictating all the points in the first set, making me move a lot. It was quite windy today and that made it difficult. Once I found a bit of rhythm I started to control things a little bit more.”
The turning point came at deuce in the third game of the second set, when Murray caught his ball toss and was sanctioned by umpire Carlos Ramos for taking too long between serves.
Having already received a time violation early in the opening set, Murray was penalised a first serve.
He argued his case with Ramos to no avail, but the Scot is never more dangerous than when he has a sense of grievance.
After a shaky second serve was dumped long by Nishikori, the eighth seed went completely off the boil and did not win another game in the set.
It was a strange match, with both men rarely playing well at the same time and Nishikori’s level in particular going up and down like a yo-yo.
But he can also be extremely resilient as he showed in his quarter-final victory over the Scot at the US Open nine months ago.
Remarkably, Nishikori said he could not remember the match at all despite it being both a dramatic five-setter and one of the biggest wins of his career.
Murray had not forgotten having looked in control at two sets to one up before letting the match slip away.
He was in that position again after taking a crucial third set 7-0 in a tiebreak Nishikori will certainly want to forget in a hurry.Murray was then broken again in the opening game of the fourth set, beating his thigh in frustration as the contest threatened to become complicated again.
But that would prove the only game Nishikori would win in the set, with Murray joining his coach Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi by making his fifth Roland Garros semi-final – the sixthbest in the Open era.
The Scot will now play Wawrika in the last four after the Swiss demolished Marin Cilic 6-3 6-3 6-1 in just an hour and 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, defending champion Novak Djokovic was sensationalkly knocked out following a straight-sets defeat by Dominic Thiem.
The Serbian second seed was second best throughout to powerful-hitting Thiem, losing 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 6-0 in Paris.
It is the Austrian sixth seed’s first victory over Djokovic and he will now play Rafael Nadal in the last four.
The Spaniard moved into a 10th French Open semi-final after opponent Pablo Carreno Busta retired, with Nadal leading 6-2 2-0.
In the women’s event, Simona Halep mounted a remarkable recovery from a set and 5-1 down against Elina Svitolina to reach the French Open semifinals, winning 3-6 7-6 (8/6) 6-0.
She set up a last-four clash with second seed Karolina Pliskova, who beat home favourite Caroline Garcia 7-6 (7/3) 6-4.