Marvellous Marin Cilic ousts Rublev to reach Roland Garros semi-finals

Marin Cilic is through to his first Grand Slam semi-final in four years after overcoming Andrey Rublev in a last-eight thriller at the French Open on Wednesday.

The former US Open champion prevailed 5-7 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-6(2) in a highly entertaining clash on Chatrier that lasted four hours and 10 minutes.

Cilic becomes the fifth active player on the ATP tour to reach at least the semi-finals of all four majors after Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.

The 32-year-old, who hit a whopping 88 winners, is also the first Croatian male to progress to the last four at Roland Garros since Ivan Ljubicic in 2006.

Targeting his maiden semi-final appearance at a Slam at the fifth attempt, Rublev drew first blood in a 58-minute opener.

But Cilic, who stunned second seed Daniil Medvedev in straight sets in round four, hit back by winning the next two sets.

Rublev responded to force a decider, in which the seventh seed saved match point as the contest went to a tie-break.

But it was one-way traffic thereon as Cilic dominated to book a last-four date with Casper Ruud.

The Norwegian secured his place in a Slam semi-final for the first time after defeating Danish teenager Holger Rune, who stunned 2021 runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas in the previous round, 6-1 4-6 7-6(2) 6-3.

Earlier in the day, Iga Swiatek extended her winning streak to 33 matches – a tally now only bettered by Serena and Venus Williams on the WTA tour since 2000.

The world number one, who celebrated her 21st birthday on Tuesday, took just 89 minutes to wrap up a commanding 6-3 6-2 victory over Jessica Pegula.

The next challenger to Swiatek’s streak will be Daria Kasatkina, who advanced to her first Slam semi-final after seeing off Veronika Kudermetova 6-4 7-6(5).

The 20th seed is still yet to drop a set during her record-breaking run, and has now won 12 matches on clay in 2022; her joint-best tally for a single season.

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French Open 2022 Day 11 Results

Wednesday June 1

Quarter-Finals

COURT PHILIPPE-CHATRIER
Veronika Kudermetova 4-6 6-7(5) Daria Kasatkina
Iga Swiatek 6-3 6-2 Jessica Pegula
Andrey Rublev 7-5 4-6 3-6 6-3 6-7(2) Marin Cilic
Casper Ruud 6-1 4-6 7-6(2) 6-3 Holger Rune