Claycourt master Rafael Nadal passed his first real test of this year’s French Open with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 6-1 victory against Italian rising star Jannik Sinner as his quest for a record-breaking 13th title gathered momentum.
The Spaniard, also looking to match Roger Federer’s record of 20 grand slam men’s singles titles, was stretched like rarely before by the 19-year-old Sinner as he set up a clash with Argentine Diego Schwartzman, who beat him in the Italian Open quarter-finals last month.
The 34-year-old Nadal’s 97 previous victories at Roland Garros made the difference in the key moments with the Spaniard rallying from a break down in the first two sets.
Sinner, the first French Open debutant to reach the last eight since Nadal in 2005, confirmed his immense potential but lacked just a bit of composure when it mattered.
Dominic Thiem’s bid for French Open glory has been scuppered after the Austrian came up short in an epic five-setter against Schwartzman.
Thiem, who won the US Open just 23 days ago, finally wilted in the deciding set in an exhausting match of considerable quality.
Schwartzman made it a double celebration for Argentina, following qualifier Nadia Podoroska’s shock win over another third seed, Elina Svitolina in the women’s quarter-finals, as he too reached his first grand slam semi-final.
After more than five hours of gripping drama, 5ft 7in Schwartzman, one of the more diminutive figures on the circuit, must have felt 10ft tall as he wrapped up a 7-6 (7-1) 5-7 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 victory.
Schwartzman, a good friend of Thiem’s, said: “Dominic is one of the best players right now in the world.
“He won the last grand slam, he is a two-time finalist here, and I have a lot of respect for him.
“That’s why this match is very important for me. I played a few five-setters here and I never won. I think at the end this night I deserved to win.”
After two gruelling sets were shared the third, which featured eight breaks of serve, felt pivotal.
Schwartzman squandered a set point on the Thiem serve with a forehand which floated long, was promptly broken in the next, but then hit back to take it to a tiebreak.
An outrageous drop shot from the baseline which flopped almost apologetically over the net brought up two set points for Thiem.
Battling Schwartzman saved both, but Thiem dispatched a third with an overhead to take the lead for the first time.
Yet Schwartzman forged ahead in the fourth and had three set points on his own serve, only for Thiem to save the lot – including one with a scarcely believable forehand pass on the run – to take it to 5-5.
However, Schwartzman took the subsequent tiebreak and, amid a seemingly superhuman effort from both players, the 28-year-old from Buenos Aires had most in the tank in the decider.
