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 (GETTY IMAGES)

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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
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 (GETTY IMAGES)

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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