PARIS: Novak Djokovic closed in on a potential blockbuster French Open semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz after beating Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-6 (7/0), 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday to reach the last four.

Djokovic, chasing a third French Open crown and record 23rd men’s Grand Slam singles title, advanced to a 45th major semi-final and his 12th at Roland Garros.

He will take on world number one Alcaraz or Stefanos Tsitsipas, the player he beat from two sets down in the 2021 final, for a place in Sunday’s championship match.

Djokovic dropped his first set of the tournament but dominated the second-set tie-break against Khachanov before putting his foot down to secure a ninth win in 10 meetings with the Russian 11th seed.

“I think he was a better player for most of the first two sets,” said Djokovic.

“I was struggling to find my rhythm. I came into the match quite slow but played a perfect tie-break and from that moment onwards played a couple levels higher.

“It’s a big fight, something you expect in the quarter-finals. You’re not going to have your victories handed to you, you have to earn them.”

Djokovic improved his record at Roland Garros to 90-16 after denying Khachanov his spot in a third successive Grand Slam semi-final. He will return to number one if he wins the title in Paris.

Earlier, women’s world number two Aryna Sabalenka reached the semi-finals by beating Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina and the Belarusian was accused of fanning the flames by waiting for a handshake that would not come before making her stance on the war clear.

Czech Karolina Muchova earlier stopped former Roland Garros runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova with a 7-5, 6-2 win to cruise into the semi-finals for the first time in her career.

She will meet Sabalenka for a place in the final.

Svitolina had said she would not shake hands with players from Russia or Belarus after Moscow’s invasion of her country last year, which it calls a “special military operation”.

Belarus is a key staging area for Russia’s actions.

“I don’t know, to be fair, what she was waiting for, because my statements were clear about the handshake,” said Svitolina, who was booed by the fickle French Open crowd for walking to her bench while Sabalenka waited at the net after winning 6-4, 6-4.

Having skipped two press conferences at Roland Garros after being grilled by the media about her personal stance on the war, Sabalenka finally addressed reporters again.

“I don’t want my country to be in any conflict, I don’t support the war,” second seed Sabalenka said. “I don’t support war, meaning I don’t support [Belarus President] Alexander Lukashenko right now.”

Sabalenka, who had skipped the earlier press conferences citing mental health reasons and saying that she did not feel safe after being repeatedly questioned about the war, said she did not regret skipping her media duties.

“I really felt bad not coming here. I couldn’t sleep. Like all those bad feelings were in my head,” Sabalenka said.

“I don’t regret the decisions. I felt really disrespected and felt really bad. I mean, [at a] Grand Slam, it’s enough pressure to handle, and I tried to focus on myself, on my game.”

In Monday’s late action, last year’s runner-up Coco Gauff outclassed Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 7-5, 6-2 in windy conditions to reach the quarter-finals where she will face holder Iga Swiatek in a rematch of the 2022 final.

Poland’s top seed Swiatek set up the blockbuster meeting when her ailing fourth-round opponent Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine retired while down 5-1 in the first set after she called on the trainer and had her blood pressure checked.

Alexander Zverev hardly broke sweat in the night session to seal a 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 win over Bulgarian 28th seed Grigor Dimitrov to make the quarter-finals for the fifth time in six years.

The German will face Tomas Martin Etcheverry after the 49th-ranked Argentine booked a place in a Slam quarter-final for the first time thanks to a 7-6 (10/8), 6-0, 6-1 win over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2023