FIFTH seed Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas will take on world number one Serbian Novak Djokovic in the semi-final of the French Open after both players recorded strong victories today. Tsitsipas defeated 13th seed Russian Andrey Rublev in straight sets, while Djokovic dropped his first set of the tournament before coming back to win in four against 17th seed Pablo Carreno Busta.

Tsitsipas turned the tables on Rublev after the Russian knocked him off for the Hamburg European Open title. The fifth seed earned a place in his second Grand Slam semi-final with a 7-5 6-2 6-3 triumph over Rublev in one hour and 55 minutes. He hit 35 winners to 25, and claimed a whopping 16 of 17 points at the net compared to Rublev’s six of 17.

Tsitsipas’ first serve winning percentage was in the elite bracket of 80 per cent above Rublev’s 66 per cent, whilst he also had an impressive 61 to 38 per cent advantage off his second serve. In other words, the world number six was unbreakable and it only happened one from three opportunities, while he broke Rublev five times from eight chances.

“I felt comfortable playing on this court and despite getting off to a bad start and being a break down, I remembered what a big fighter I am,” Tsitsipas said post-match. “It’s also about finding solutions in difficult moments and I managed to put my brain to work.”

Now Tsitsipas takes on Djokovic in what will be a huge test for the up-and-comer. The Serbian star got the job done in four sets over Carreno Busta, 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-4 in three hours and 10 minutes. Djokovic was struggling with a left arm injury early in the contest, and the ever-consistent Carreno Busta took advantage to win the first set.

As Djokovic has always tended to do, he found a way back into the contest with some important breaks and the won the next three sets in what was certainly a battle, but one he managed to pull through. He still hit 53 winners 42 and won 72 per cent of his net points (to 63 per cent). He had an uncharacteristically-high 41 unforced errors and only had a serving percentage of 56 per cent compared to his opponent’s 70 per cent.

Whilst Carreno Busta is as consistent as they come, Djokovic, even through injury, just found a way to get it done and reach his 10th Roland Garros semi-final. Whilst many might automatically assume Djokovic will get the win, the head-to-head has been far from one-sided.

Djokovic leads the head-to-head 3-2 with the last two wins in the Dubai final earlier this year, and at the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris last year with only dropping a combined 10 games in those four sets. He also has the only other win on clay – at the ATP 1000 Madrid Masters, but Tsitsipas has won in three sets twice, also in ATP Masters 1000. Whatever happens, expect it to be a cracking contest.

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