Novak Djokovic wore a tape on the back of his neck and his upper arm requiring treatment but he overcame all that to progress into the French Open 2020 semi-final with a four-set win over Pablo Carreno Busta.
World number one Novak Djokovic reached his 10th French Open semi-final but suffered an injury scare before beating Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-4 on Wednesday. A month after being defaulted for inadvertently striking a line judge with a ball while playing Carreno Busta in the U.S. Open fourth round, Novak Djokovic found himself in trouble once again. This time it was nothing more sinister than apparent physical problems with the top seed wearing tape on the back of his neck and his upper arm requiring treatment.
Carreno Busta, who lost in the U.S. Open semi-final after leading Alexander Zverev by two sets, took advantage to win the opening set -- the first conceded by Djokovic in the tournament.Djokovic looked flat and had to save break points early in the second set before raising his game at the important moment to win the next two sets. Carreno Busta hung on gamely but Djokovic was superior when it mattered and one break in the fourth was enough to set up a last-four clash with Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the Serb’s 38th Grand Slam semi final. Djokovic looked stiff and his swings restricted in the early exchanges and he fired a forehand into the net to lose serve at 2-2, but broke back in the eighth game.
However he was banging his racket against his thigh in frustration as he dropped serve again before Carreno Busta held to take the opening set. The alarm bells were ringing for Djokovic when he faced two break points at 1-1 in the second set but he saved them before raising his level to square the match. It began to look like plain sailing when he led 3-0 in the third set before a dip allowed Carreno Busta back to 3-3 and the Spaniard wasted a break point when he went for glory on a forehand during a long baseline exchange. Djokovic then reeled off three games to take the third set but was roaring in frustration as he missed four break points at 1-1 in the fourth and another at 2-2. He did get the break at 3-3 but still Carreno Busta was dangerous and had chances to respond immediately. But Djokovic was determined to avoid a late night and completed an often-laboured victory with a forehand winner.
Tsitsipas in last four
Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas reached the second Grand Slam semi-final of his career on Wednesday, raising his game after a slow start to defeat Russian Andrey Rublev 7-5 6-2 6-3 at the French Open. Before the quarter-final on Court Philippe Chatrier, the 13th-seeded Rublev had won both previous tour-level meetings against fellow 22-year-old Tsitsipas with their last encounter less than two weeks ago in the final in Hamburg.
The Russian looked set to keep his record intact as he served for the first set at 5-4 but Tsitsipas, who also reached the semi-finals at last year’s Australian Open, fought back to level the set and then broke Rublev’s serve to take the opener. From 3-5 down in the first set, Tsitsipas won five straight games and a frustrated Rublev seemed to have run out of ideas against his inspired opponent.
Asked during his on-court interview what he changed in his game to suddenly shift gears, Tsitsipas said after a long silence: "If I tell you it won’t be a secret anymore. I have been feeling really comfortable playing on this court. Despite not having a good start and being a break down, I remembered what a big fighter I am. It`s also about fighting and trying to find solutions in big moments. I managed to put my brain into work and find solutions to difficult tasks that I had to complete."
The 2019 ATP Finals winner started finding sharp angles while generating more power in his groundstrokes. He started approaching the net more often with success and also began playing sublime passing shots. Rublev did not find a way back into the match as Tsitsipas broke his serve three more times in the next two sets.
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