PARIS: Novak Djokovic od Serbia had 100 million reasons to celebrate reaching the French Open quarter-finals on Wednesday — albeit two days later than expected — as players made a mad dash to clear the fourth-round backlog created by the fickle Parisian weather.
The Serbian world number one became the first tennis player to bank $100 million in prize money after his 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 win over Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut tipped him over the magic number.
However, the fourth-round winner’s cheque is a far cry from the real prize Djokovic has his eyes on this week.
What he desperately wants is to get his hands on the Musketeers’ Cup to complete his grand slam collection.
After winning a match that was originally scheduled for Monday, began on Tuesday and was finally completed on Wednesday, the 29-year-old will have to play four days in succession if he is to reach Sunday’s title showdown.
“I have the feeling I played three matches against him,” a grinning Djokovic told the crowd after donning a yellow rain hat during his victory speech.
“Yesterday the match was interrupted three times and it wasn’t easy coming here at 9 am and leaving at 7.30 or 8:00 pm.
“So that’s the reason why we should have the roof here. I’m hoping we’re going to have it very soon,” added the Serb after joining athletes such as golfer Tiger Woods and boxer Lennox Lewis in the $100 million club.
Djokovic will be back in action on Thursday to contest his 28th successive major quarter-final against Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych, a 6-3 7-5 6-3 winner over 2013 runner-up David Ferrer.
In contrast, Austrian tyro Dominic Thiem was enjoying his most successful run at a grand slam after beating Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-4 to set up a last-eight clash with Belgian David Goffin.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Andy Murray came back from a set down to beat Richard Gasquet 5-7, 7-6, 6-0, 6-2 and set up a semi-final with Stan Wawrinka on Wednesday.
A fine win for Murray in the end, but he made life hard for himself in the first two sets and we could have had a very different outcome if Richard Gasquet had pressed home his advantage in the second-set tie-break. Yet there was a feeling of inevitability once Murray was level and it wasn’t that much of a surprise to see Gasquet fade so badly. It’s happened before. As for Murray, he’s set up a mouthwatering semi-final with Stan Wawrinka.
With only two hours of play possible over the previous two days as Parisians were hit by monsoon-like showers, the women in top seed Serena Williams’s half of the draw had also been left bogged down in the fourth round for 48 hours.
Hence it was little surprise they were all in a hurry to play catch-up on Wednesday.
Williams is no stranger to playing in front of capacity crowds but barely a couple of hundred spectators bothered to turn up at the 15,000-seater Philippe Chatrier Court as she began her tussle against 18th seed Elina Svitolina.
However, one person who was there to witness the champion’s 6-1, 6-1 walloping of Svitolina was her former on-court rival, four-times champion Justine Henin.
What Henin thought of her charge Svitolina’s performance is anyone’s guess but unlike the Belgian’s often prickly encounters with Williams, Wednesday’s match ended with the two players sharing a joke and a warm handshake at the net.
However, there will be no Williams family reunion at Roland Garros this year after Timea Bacsinszky ambushed Serena’s elder sister Venus 6-2, 6-4.
On a day when it was so murky that the Eiffel Tower disappeared into the hazy clouds hanging over Paris, Venus arrived for her match on Suzanne Lenglen Court looking more like a winter sport athlete than someone about to play a tennis match on June 1 — wearing leggings under her skirt and a long black quilted jacket zipped up to her neck.
Once the match got going, she failed to warm up sufficiently as Bacsinszky went on an eight-game roll from 2-0 down in the first set and kept up the run to dash dreams of a possible semi-final showdown for the most celebrated sisters in sport.
“My first win over Venus is — well, it’s just amazing,” the beaming Swiss eighth seed said after reaching the last eight for the second year running.
Describing herself as “a chameleon” who can adapt to “every type of court” she will next face Kiki Bertens after the Dutch outsider downed American 15th seed Madison Keys 7-6(4), 6-3.
Serena will take on another unexpected quarter-finalist in the shape of Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, who beat Spanish 12th seed Carla Suarez Navarro.