Nadal keeps bid for 11th title alive

PARIS — That Rafael Nadal would reach a record 11th French Open semifinal, closing in on his 11th championship at Roland Garros, hardly was surprising.

That he trailed by a set and a break before rain delays allowed him to change tactics and recover to get there? Now that, certainly, was unusual.

His opponent Friday will be Juan Martin del Potro, who became choked up after waiting nearly a decade to return to the final four in Paris.

Both men advanced by winning quarterfinals suspended the night before because of rain. The No. 1ranked Nadal quickly announced Thursday that he was not going to be as passive as he was in the early going against 11th-seeded Diego Schwartzman, seizing 12 of the initial 13 points after they stepped out under a blue sky and pulling away for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory at Court Philippe Chatrier.

“Totally different guy yesterday,” Schwartzman said. “Maybe the day when you can beat Rafa was yesterday.”

No. 5 del Potro mostly stayed steady in a 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 win over No. 3 Marin Cilic in a matchup between past U.S. Open champions.

The other men’s semifinal is No. 7 Dominic Thiem of Austria against 72nd-ranked Marco Cecchinato of Italy, who never won a Grand Slam match until last week and was cleared of a matchfixing charge on a technicality in 2016.

For del Potro, now comes what he called “the challenge that every player wants to have” — taking on Nadal at Roland Garros. The 32-year-old Spaniard is 84-2 for his career at the French Open, winning four consecutive titles from 2005-08, another five consecutive from 2010-14, and No. 10 a year ago.