Murray both brilliant and bad in quarter-final victory
PARIS— Entertaining as his French Open quarter-final might have been, Andy Murray hardly enjoyed the experience.
“When you’re out there,” he said, “I personally find it quite stressful.” You don’t say? Yelling at his entourage and muttering to himself, the No. 2-seeded Murray alternated between brilliant and bad for the better part of two sets while dealing with a French opponent and a partisan crowd Wednesday, before righting things to beat No. 9 Richard Gasquet 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-0, 6-2 and reach his fourth semifinal at Roland Garros.
“I thought I did well, for the most part, in a tough atmosphere,” said Murray, whose next opponent is defending champion Stan Wawrinka, a 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (7) winner against 55thranked Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Murray had a much tougher time. He led 5-2 in each of the first two sets and got broken while serving for both at 5-3. Then he trailed 3-1 in the second-set tiebreaker, a critical moment. After Murray’s ace made it 3-2, Gasquet got to a drop shot and wound up for what should have been an easy one-handed backhand, his signature shot. The ball clipped the net tape, though, allowing Murray a put away for a winner.
He can now regroup Thursday, when the quarter-finals in the top half of the men’s draw will be played: No. 1 Novak Djokovic against No. 7 Tomas Berdych, and No. 12 David Goffin against No. 13 Dominic Thiem. Their fourth-round matches began Tuesday and finished Wednesday. Because of showers, zero points were played Monday, and only about 2 hours’ worth were contested Tuesday. All the rain tightened the schedule to the point that players will compete several days in a row to get to the final, instead of enjoying a major’s usual off-days.
With more wet weather in the forecast, the prospect of completing the tournament by Sunday is iffy.
Aiming to win his fourth consecutive major trophy and complete a career Grand Slam, Djokovic continued his charm offensive with the fans after a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 victory over No. 14 Roberto Bautista Agut, cajoling a ball boy to join him in bowing, then donning a floppy yellow hat.
Later, the first women’s semifinal matchup was established, with No. 4 Garbine Muguruza ending the surprising run of 108th-ranked American Shelby Rogers 7-5, 6-3, and 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur eliminating Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-4, 7-6 (6).
And in fourth-round matches originally slated for Monday, No. 9 Venus Williams lost, while her sister, No. 1 Serena, won.
Venus came up short in a bid to get to the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time in a decade, dropping eight games in a row during a 6-2, 6-4 loss to No. 8 Timea Bacsinszky.
Defending champion Serena defeated 18th-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-1, and faces unseeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.