Paris : Novak Djokovic reached his 30th Grand Slam semi-final on Thursday to move two wins away from a first French Open title and a career Grand Slam but admitted he was lucky not to have been disqualified.
The world number one defeated Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5, 6-3, claiming a place in an eighth Roland Garros semi-final and sixth in succession. But the 29-year-old Serb, who will face Dominic Thiem of Austria for a place in the final, came perilously close to being kicked out of the tournament in the second game of the third set.
Frustrated at missing a break point, the Serb went to smash his racquet into the ground but it slipped out of his grasp before it flew into the backwall on Philippe Chatrier Court.
Had it hit the nearby line judge, who was forced to take evasive action, Djokovic would have been disqualified.
Not surprisingly, he offered a speedy apology for his actions to chair umpire Eva Asderaki Moore and escaped with a warning for racquet abuse.
“I was lucky there,” admitted Djokovic. “I apologized to the people that have been in this particular situation with me and that could have been hurt by my racquet.
“But, you know, it was never the intention. It was just some unfortunate bounce, but fortunate ending of that scenario. That’s all I can say.”
Djokovic is a three-time runner-up in Paris and is bidding to become just the eighth man to win all four majors.
Thursday’s quarter-final was played out in a damp chill where temperatures slumped to 12 degrees on Court Philippe Chatrier. But it didn’t stop the Serb from claiming a 24th win in 26 meetings against Berdych and his 11th in a row.
Meanwhile, Serena Williams moved to within two matches of winning a record-equalling 22nd Grand Slam title with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 win over Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva in the French Open quarter-finals on Thursday.
But it was a peculiar performance from the 34-year-old top seed and defending champion, who looked unrecognisable for the first hour of a match played in cold, damp conditions on the Roland Garros centre court.
Defeat was staring the out-of-sorts American in the face at a set and a break down, but in the nick of time the champion managed to rekindle the fires that fuel her game.
Back-to-back service breaks allowed her to turn the match on its head and avoid what would have been one of the biggest upsets in French Open history.
Because of the poor weather conditions that have beset Roland Garros this week, Williams will play her third match in three days in Friday’s semis against unseeded Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens who upset eighth seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland.
A win there would qualify her for Saturday’s final and the chance of matching Steffi Graf’s modern-era record of 22 Grand Slam titles set in Paris in 1999.
