Murray scuffles, survives
Ousts Gasquet to reach semifinals
PARIS — Entertaining as his French Open quarterfinal might have been, Andy Murray hardly enjoyed the experience.
“When you’re out there,” Murray said, “I personally find it quite stressful.” You don’t say? Yelling at his entourage and muttering to himself, the second-seeded Murray alternated between brilliant and bad for the better part of two sets while dealing with a French opponent and a partisan crowd yesterday 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 55th-ranked 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.
“Had I won the second set,” Gasquet lamented, “it would have been a totally different match.”
He didn’t, of course. 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 putaway for a winner. That, basically, was that. Murray can regroup today when the quarterfinals in the top half of the men’s draw will be played: top-seeded Novak Djokovic against No. 7 Tomas Berdych, and No. 12 David Goffin against No. 13 Dominic Thiem. Their fourthround matches began Tuesday and finished yesterday.
Because of showers, zero points were played Monday, and only about two 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 days off.
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 against 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.
With the temperature around 60 degrees, Venus warmed up in a zipped-up gray coat, something that seemed more appropriate for winter wear. She came up short in a bid to get to the quarterfinals 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.