Thiem stuns Djokovic at French Open

Halep pulls off great escape to join Pliskova in semis

PARIS: Dominic Thiem demolished defending champion Novak Djokovic in a stunning French Open upset on Wednesday, setting up a semi-final duel against nine-time champion Rafael Nadal.

Austrian sixth seed Thiem sent the world number two crashing to his earliest loss here in seven years with a memorable 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 6-0 triumph.

It also piled the pressure back onto the 12-time Grand Slam winner to prove that he is still a contender at the majors following a second-round exit at the Australian Open in January.

“All the top players go through this. I will get through it and learn the lessons and figure out how to get out of it,” said 30-year-old Djokovic.

“It’s a big challenge but I am up for it.”

The defeat was Djokovic’s first straight-sets loss at a major in four years and comes just 12 months after he completed the career Grand Slam here.

He then also held all four majors.

Wednesday saw him suffer a first 6-0 ‘bagel’ at a Slam since the 2005 US Open while the defeat will also see him slip out of the world’s top two for the first time in six years.

It was Thiem’s first win over the Serb in six meetings.

Djokovic, who teamed up with Andre Agassi ahead of the tournament, squandered two set points in the 10th game of the opener on Wednesday and things got steadily worse.

Thiem pounced on his lifeline, taking the set after 73 minutes when the Serb dumped a backhand in the net.

By that stage, Nadal was already back in the locker room, safely into the semi-finals after his opponent Pablo Carreno Busta had retired with injury over on Philippe Chatrier.

Djokovic, who had needed five sets to beat Diego Schwartzman in the third round, was 3-0 down in the second set with Thiem’s unerring accuracy finding the angles.

The world number two had demolished Thiem for the loss of just one game in Rome in April.

But the 23-year-old Austrian was by far the more composed in the tricky cool conditions on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

He wrapped up the set in the ninth game with Djokovic managing just five winners.

The Serb was on the ropes and was broken in the first game of the third set as Thiem edged closer to avenging his semi-final loss last year.

The set was over in 20 minutes with Djokovic having won just eight points, leaving the court with plenty to ponder ahead of Wimbledon next month.

Meanwhile, Simona Halep produced an incredible escape act to reach the French Open semi-finals on Wednesday, while Karolina Pliskova ended the run of the lone remaining home hope Caroline Garcia.

Romanian third seed Halep saved a match point as she trailed Elina Svitolina 6-3, 5-1 before launching a sensational comeback to stun the Ukrainian in three sets.

Fifth seed Svitolina twice served for the match at 5-2 and 5-4 in the second set and then had match point at 6/5 in the tie-break.

But she failed to put away Halep and the 2014 Roland Garros runner-up powered through the decider in just 20 minutes to complete a remarkable 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-0 victory.

“I don’t know how I came back. It was really tough. She was playing hard and strong. I was a little bit lucky, I can say,” said Halep, who grabbed the second set on a fortuitous net cord winner.

“I think I was strong mentally. I didn’t give up. That’s maybe why I won this match.”

Svitolina, 22, had looked well-set to become the first Ukrainian woman to make a Grand Slam semi-final.

She allowed Halep just four winners in the first set and coasted to within sight of the last-four, but the Romanian ran away with 12 of the last 13 games to avenge her loss in the Rome final.

Svitolina, who had been two points from defeat in the fourth round against Petra Martic, finished the quarter-final with 45 unforced errors.

Halep will meet second seed Pliskova for a place in Saturday’s final after the second defeated Garcia 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.

Pliskova, 25, will replace Angelique Kerber as the new world number one if she makes the final, while Halep would rise to the top of the rankings should she claim the title here.

The Czech edged a marathon 77-minute first set against 28th seed Garcia in a tie-break, having failed to convert an earlier set point at 5-3.

The 25-year-old then broke the Frenchwoman as she served to stay in the match to clinch just her second appearance in the last four at a Grand Slam.