Play under way in last 2 French Open men’s quarterfinals

After the match, Djokovic-who advanced to his 30th Grand Slam semifinal, 8th overall and 6th-straight at Roland Garros-was already thinking ahead to his next match against No. 13-seed Dominic Thiem, who defeated No. 12-seed David Goffin 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-1 on Thursday.

The closest the world number one came to quarter-final elimination was through a potential disqualification in the third set.

The top-seeded Serb beat Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 Thursday, a day after completing a four-set win over Roberto Bautista Agut.

As of Wednesday midnight in Paris, five men remained potential grinches as Djokovic aims for two huge feats: becoming only the fourth man since Rod Laver to win all four of the majors in a given lifetime (after Agassi, Federer and Rafael Nadal), and becoming the first man since Laver in 1969 to hold all four at once. “I was lucky there”.

“But I came back today with more intensity even though it was a tough mental and physical battle”.

The Austrian recovered from losing the first set to defeat Belgium’s David Goffin 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-1 to reach his first semi-final.

Berdych said organisers were responding to a tight schedule after the claycourt grand slam suffered its first washout in 16 years on Monday followed by just two hours of play on Tuesday.

Samantha Stosur has kept alive her dream of adding a French Open title to her collection by seeing off Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova in a greulling quarter-final.

Williams holds the record, at 33 years and 289 days, as the oldest female grand slam victor – something she achieved at Wimbledon last year for her 21st grand slam title.

Breezing through the first four rounds, Williams’ display was more like her path 12 months ago when she took part in five three-setters en route to the title.

“Four in a row?”

Again, the game was played out in the damp conditions that have plagued the tournament.

Especially in these conditions it’s good to have [a drop shot] in your game. Following the match, Williams remarked, “Every day, for me, is important to get up for all my matches, you know, first round to the last round”. Instead, he got away with just a code violation. “It’s totally fine I think for me and for everyone”.

Swiss eighth seed Timea Bacsinszky dumped out Venus Williams 6-2, 6-4 to rule out the prospect of the two sisters meeting in the semi-finals.

She played smart, clean tennis in the first set of her debut grand slam quarterfinal, allowing Williams to implode – 24 unforced errors sailed and thumped off the racket of the world No. 1, compared to two for Putintseva.

As for Andy Murray, well the gift that keeps on giving of Richard Gasquet to win set one worked out again for those who trusted the trends and there was also a victor for my [3.90] recommended bet of Murray to win 3-1.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic booked a quarterfinal spot in the French Open in a match waiting for three days to complete on Wednesday, while the last Frenchman in main draw Richard Gasquet was eliminated in last eight.