Djokovic out but Nadal into French Open semis
Jurgen Melzer has upset Novak Djokovic to reach the semi-finals of the French Open while Rafael Nadal has reached the final four with a straight sets win over Nicolas Almagro.
Melzer came from two sets down against the third seed to book a place in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career with a 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(3), 6-4 victory in his quarter-final match.
Asked how he turned the match around from a 3-6, 2-6, 0-2 position Melzer told reporters: “I told myself it's my first quarter-finals in my life in a Grand Slam. Just don't go away. Just don't make it easy for him. Fight as much as you can, and I wasn't playing so bad. I just missed a lot of easy shots when I had the chance and the opportunity to finish the point.
“And after that, I mean, I got back in, and at two all in the third it was an open match. I think I got a little under the skin after the third set. I should win the fourth set probably earlier than I actually did, and then the fifth was just a battle.”
Djokovic, who watched a place in the semi-finals slide from his grasp in the final three sets, was also quick to praise Melzer after the match.
“I want to congratulate him first," Djokovic said. “I think he played really well in the last three sets.
But I made a big mistake, you know, there. I made him come back into the match with my unforced errors, and then he caught the momentum and he was playing really well, especially on his service games.
“I'm very disappointed, obviously, to lose the match that I was in control of totally a set and a break. This is tennis, you know. This is Grand Slams. You always have to play up to the end, because these things happen, especially at this stage of tournament,” said the Serb.
The 29-year-old Melzer, who hadn’t made it past the third round of a major prior to Roland Garros this year, will now face Nadal for a place in the final.
Not that the Austrian was focusing on that unenviable task in the immediate aftermath of the biggest victory of his career.
“I have still tomorrow to think about Nadal. I played the biggest match of my life just maybe an hour ago. Of course you want to have a straight mindset when you think about Nadal. At the moment, that wouldn't be possible,” Melzer said.
Nadal moved another victory closer to his fifth French Open title and a potential return to the world No. 1 ranking with a 7-6(2), 7-6(3), 6-4 win over his Spanish counterpart, standing firm against a determined showing from Almagro.
“I started the beginning of the match terrible. I threw all the balls outside,” Nadal said after the match, where Almagro secured a break on Nadal’s first service game and the early 2-0 lead in the quarter-final.
“I am very happy how I played the tiebreaks. I played very aggressive, very focused, and in important moments I think I played better than the rest of the match. That's a very good news, no?” the second seed said.
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