French Open 2018: Cecchinato stuns Djokovic; Thiem crushes Zverev to reach semis

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Paris, June 5: Italy's Marco Cecchinato stunned former World No 1 Novak Djokovic 6-3, 7-6(4), 1-6, 7-6 (13-11) to move into the semi-finals of the French Open 2018 on Tuesday (June 5).

He's also the first Italian man to reach a Grand Slam semi-final since Corrado Barazzutti at the 1978 Roland Garros. This continues Cecchinato's stunning run at the Roland Garros. Before this performance, the Italian had never won a Grand Slam.

Just two years ago, Cecchinato's tennis career was all but over after the Federation of Italian Tennis found the Palermo native guilty of a match-fixing offence. According to the charges pressed by the federation, Cecchinato had agreed to lose a match at a Moroccan Challenger event in 2015 along with fellow player Riccardo Accardi. He was banned for 18 months and was reduced to 12 after an independent tribunal ruled he did not intentionally plan to fix a match. Later in 2016, the ban was overturned because of irregularities over the evidence gathering.

In the last-four clash, he will meet Dominic Thiem, who breezed into a third consecutive French Open semi-final with a dominant straight-sets win over an injured Alexander Zverev.

Thiem became the first Austrian to reach the last four at Roland Garros more than twice by easing to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 victory over the second seed in just an hour and 50 minutes.

Three consecutive five-set marathons appeared to have taken their toll on Zverev, who felt his left hamstring early on and persevered after heavy strapping was applied during the second set.

Thiem was outstanding throughout a one-sided quarter-final on Court Philippe Chatrier, not dropping his serve and hitting 25 winners as he moved a step closer to a first major final.

The seventh seed will now play either Novak Djokovic or Marco Cecchinato, while Zverev will be hoping to return to full fitness for the grass-court season after his best run at a major came to a juddering halt in Paris.

Zverev was soon indicating his discomfort and he felt more pain when Thiem went 4-3 up with a majestic one-handed backhand winner after a double fault gifted him two break points.

The world number eight barely put a foot wrong, serving out the first set with an ace after unleashing a ferocious forehand winner.

While Thiem was a bundle of energy, Zverev looked somewhat fatigued - as well as being troubled by his left leg - and he was a break down at 2-1 in the second after making a mess of a backhand slice.

The sprightly Thiem saved a first break point for Zverev by winning a brilliant point which he dictated and led 4-1 when he German netted a backhand.

Zverev was holding his head in his chair before having his leg heavily strapped and both players went off court at the end of a second set which Thiem wrapped up with a hold to love.

Thiem showed no mercy as he continued to dominate, racing into a 4-0 lead in a flash in the third set by mixing up his game expertly.

He followed up a wickedly spinning sublime backhand drop with another rasping one-handed backhand winner after saving a break point to lead 5-1 and sealing a crushing win with a straightforward backhand into an open court.

STATISTICAL BREAKDOWN Thiem [7] bt Zverev [2] 6-4, 6-2, 6-1

WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS Thiem – 25/20 Zverev – 19/42

ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS Thiem – 5/3 Zverev – 2/4

BREAK POINTS WON Thiem – 6/12 Zverev – 0/2

FIRST SERVE PERCENTAGE Thiem – 63 Zverev – 72

PERCENTAGE OF POINTS WON ON FIRST/SECOND SERVE Thiem – 79/68 Zverev – 53/44

TOTAL POINTS Thiem – 94 Zverev – 62

Source: OPTA