World number one Jannik Sinner marched ahead in his relentless pursuit of a maiden French Open title with a typically efficient 6-1 7-5 6-0 win over Kazakh showman Alexander Bublik to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals on Wednesday.
The near-flawless victory ensured Sinner became the first Italian man to make six Grand Slam semi-finals and extended his winning run at the majors to 19 matches after his triumphs at last year’s U.S. Open and the Australian Open in January.
The retraction of Court Philippe Chatrier’s roof after a cold, rainy morning signalled the opening of the floodgates as Sinner raced away to a 5-0 lead before Bublik got on the board and immediately threatened to break the top seed.
Sinner snuffed out his challenge to win the first set with ease but the 23-year-old ran into trouble in the next set when Bublik pulled out trademark drop shots from his bag of tricks and worked his opponent harder to stay level after 10 games.
An untimely dip allowed Sinner to pounce and the three-time Grand Slam champion broke before holding comfortably to stop the brave comeback of his 62nd-ranked opponent and double his own advantage in the contest.
The one-way traffic resumed in the third set, where Bublik hit a failed underarm serve while trying to avoid going a double break down, before Sinner tightened his grip to seal the win and book a clash with either Alexander Zverev or Novak Djokovic.
French wild card Boisson stuns Andreeva to reach semis
French wild-card entry Lois Boisson upset sixth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 7-6 (6), 6-3 Wednesday in front of a boisterous and largely partisan crowd at Roland-Garros to reach the semifinals of the French Open.
Andreeva repeatedly showed her frustration with the crowd, as excited fans chanted “Lois, Lois” between points, waved Tricolor flags, shouted during play, and even applauded the Russian teenager’s errors. The 22-year-old Boisson became the first woman to reach the semifinals at her debut Grand Slam tournament since 1989, when Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati both did it at the French Open. She is also the youngest French semifinalist at a Grand Slam event since Amelie Mauresmo at Wimbledon in 1999.
The first set was marked by momentum swings and brilliant shot-making from both players. Boisson twice found herself down a break but fought back each time, using heavy spin and deep groundstrokes to trouble her Russian opponent. Andreeva grew visibly tense on key points, struggling to maintain her composure and wasting a chance to close out the set when up 5-3. Despite saving three set points and forcing a tiebreaker, she ultimately handed the set to Boisson with two consecutive backhand errors.
Andreeva responded strongly at the start of the second set, racing to a 3-0 lead. But Boisson broke back with a thunderous backhand winner down the line, drawing a roar of approval from the lively crowd. Andreeva received a warning after netting a routine forehand volley and angrily hitting a ball into the stands. She then argued with the umpire over a call that gave Boisson a break point. On the very next point, Andreeva double-faulted and never recovered.
Blunder fest as Gauff downs Keys to reach last four in Paris
Coco Gauff huffed and puffed into the French Open semi-finals with a 6-7(6) 6-4 6-1 victory against fellow American Madison Keys in a match both players will be quick to forget as they broke the 100-unforced errors barrier on Wednesday.
More than half of Gauff’s points came from Australian Open champion Keys’ soft mistakes and the world number two got away with a total of 10 double faults.