French Open 2014: Ernests Gulbis and Novak Djokovic to meet in semi-finals

The pair both won their quarter-finals in straight sets

Eleanor Crooks
Tuesday 03 June 2014 18:29 BST
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Ernests Gulbis of Latvia celebrates victory in his men's singles quarter-final match against Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic on day ten of the French Open
Ernests Gulbis of Latvia celebrates victory in his men's singles quarter-final match against Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic on day ten of the French Open

Ernests Gulbis followed up his victory over Roger Federer by dumping out Tomas Berdych to set up a French Open semi-final against Novak Djokovic.

Far from suffering a let down after the biggest win of his career, Gulbis came out and played even better, thumping sixth seed Berdych 6-3 6-2 6-4.

The Latvian was playing in his first grand slam quarter-final for six years and will now meet second seed Djokovic in his maiden semi-final.

Even if he loses that, Gulbis will be close to a top-10 spot in the rankings when they are updated on Monday.

The 25-year-old, whose love of a good time had looked like it would stop him reaching his potential, joked he would go out and celebrate given he has two days until he plays the semi-final.

Djokovic was also a straight-sets winner, although he had to work hard in the first two sets to break down big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia throws a shirt into the crowd as he celebrates victory in his men's singles quarter-final against Milos Raonic of Canada

The pair had played a very close match in Rome just before the French Open, with Raonic winning the first set before losing in three.

This time Djokovic, who is chasing a first French Open title, had the edge in the tight moments and came through to win 7-5 7-6 (7/5) 6-4.

Raonic saved a set point at 4-5 in the first but could not save a second two games later, a dipping backhand pass forcing the Canadian to volley wide.

There were no break points at all in the second set but the tie-break went the way of Djokovic, who claimed the crucial mini-break to lead 6-4.

With that the Canadian's hopes appeared to have gone and Djokovic raced into a 5-1 lead in the third.

Raonic mounted a mini comeback with a first break of the Djokovic serve in the match but the Serbian snuffed it out to book his spot in a fourth consecutive French Open semi-final.

PA

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