US’ Amanda Anisimova celebrates after winning against Romania’s Simona Halep on day 12 of the Roland Garros 2019 French Open tennis tournament, in Paris on June 6, 2019.
Amanda Anisimova stunned defending champion Simona Halep to reach semifinal against Australian eighth seed Ashleigh Barty.
Novak Djokovic reached his ninth Roland Garros semifinal on Thursday, sweeping past Alexander Zverev to keep his bid to become just the second man to hold all four Slams at the same time twice firmly on track.
Top seed and world number one Djokovic won 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 and will face Austrian fourth seed Dominic Thiem on Friday in what will be his 35th Grand Slam semifinal.
Thiem reached the semifinals for a fourth successive year with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory against Russian 10th seed Karen Khachanov.
"It was a big challenge for me today but I was hitting the ball more cleanly," said 32-year-old Djokovic.
"It's a great joy to be in the semifinals again."
The problem for Djokovic now in his pursuit of a second title in Paris and 16th major is the weather.
Heavy rain is forecast to hit Paris again on Friday after Wednesday's washout.
"I just have to keep my concentration and stay in the moment. I hope to continue like this," said the Serb.
Friday's other semi-final will see Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer resume their great rivalry, meaning this is the first time the top four seeds have all reached the last four at a Grand Slam since the 2013 Australian Open.
The last time Djokovic made the semi-finals was 2016 when he went on to win the title.
He has a 6-2 career lead over Thiem and beat the Austrian in the Rome semifinals in the run-up to Paris.
However, Thiem came out on top in the Roland Garros quarter-finals in straight sets in 2017.
Fifth seed Zverev, bidding to reach a maiden Slam semi-final and become the first German in the last-four in Paris since Michael Stich in 1996, made the stronger start.
The 22-year-old had break points in the third and fifth games of the opening set and finally broke through for a 5-4 lead.
But top seed Djokovic levelled immediately before claiming the set on a Zverev double fault.
Djokovic dominated the second set as breaks in the second and eighth games were enough to tighten his grip.
The world number one saved two more break points in the opening game of the third set and again made the German pay with a break for 4-2.
Zverev's 40th and last unforced error proved to be the final point of the one-sided quarter-final.
"I had chances in the first set but he broke back and was in control," said the German.
"When he's in control, he's tough to beat. He's number one for a reason.
"I expected more from this tournament but once the first set slipped away, it was difficult."
The world number five finished with eight double faults while converting just one of eight break points.
Thiem was utterly dominant on Court Suzanne Lenglen, hammering 29 winners, as his erratic opponent contrived to tally 37 unforced errors and only 17 winners.
"The key was to control the points. I'll be ready to maybe come back here tomorrow. This is one of my favourite courts in the world," said the 25-year-old, who is chasing a maiden Grand Slam title.
Khachanov had impressed in a fourth-round victory over Juan Martin del Potro, but was never in with a chance in the quarter-final, which was delayed from Wednesday due to rain, dropping serve twice in the opening set.
He managed to get to 4-4 in the second, only to see Thiem reel off eight of the next 10 games and seal a last-four spot without even facing a break point in the match.
Anisimova stuns Halep to set up Barty semifinal
American teenager Amanda Anisimova stunned defending champion Simona Halep on Thursday to reach a French Open semifinal against Australian eighth seed Ashleigh Barty.
The 17-year-old downed Romanian star Halep 6-2, 6-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier, while Barty saw off 14th seed Madison Keys 6-3, 7-5 to also become a first-time Grand Slam semi-finalist.
The last-four ties will be played on Friday, after Wednesday's downpour in Paris caused a backlog of matches.
“This is more than I could have asked for,” said Anisimova, who is the youngest player to reach a major semi-final since Czech Nicole Vaidisova at the 2007 Australian Open.
She is also the youngest American woman to make the last four at a major since Venus Williams at the 1997 US Open, and the youngest to reach the semis at Roland Garros since Jennifer Capriati in 1990.
“I knew if I wanted to win today I would have to do something different because it wasn't going to be easy,” Anisimova added.
“I'm really happy with the performance because it's one of the best matches I've ever played.”
The defeat for third seed Halep means it has now been 12 years since the last successful title defence in Paris -- Belgian Justine Henin's third straight triumph in 2007.
The winner of Anisimova's clash against Barty will face either Britain's Johanna Konta or Czech 19-year-old Marketa Vondrousova in the final.
It is the first time two teenagers have reached the semi-finals at a Grand Slam for 10 years, while it had not happened at Roland Garros since Henin and Kim Clijsters in 2001.
Anisimova crushed 25 winners past a bewildered Halep, who made 17 unforced errors and served two double faults.
Halep's run of breaking in 16 consecutive return games was swiftly ended by Anisimova's big hitting, and the American broke serve in fifth game en route to a 4-2 lead.
She saved a break point and then dismantled the Halep serve once more to seal the opening set in under half an hour.
Halep, who had thrashed 18-year-old Pole Iga Swiatek 6-1, 6-0 in the fourth round, faced being on the wrong end of a similarly one-sided match when she fell 3-0 down in the second.
Anisimova tightened up with the semis in sight and the defending champion fought back to 4-4, but the youngster gathered herself to save a break point in the next game and then grabbed her first match point with a glorious backhand winner up the line.
Barty sees off Keys
Barty also won in relative comfort on Court Suzanne Lenglen to go one better than her run to the Australian Open last eight earlier this year.
The 23-year-old was too consistent for American Keys, hitting 16 winners and four aces.
Keys, a semi-finalist at Roland Garros last year where she lost to Sloane Stephens, was undone by 26 unforced errors.
After a tight start to the match, Barty claimed the opening set courtesy of a single break in game eight, before clinching a one-set lead on her fourth set point.
The second set followed a similar pattern to the first, until Barty stumbled at the finish line and was broken when serving for the match.
But Keys gifted her the advantage straight back with an error-strewn game, and former professional cricketer Barty made no mistake second time around.
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