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View From The Baseline: French Open quarter-finals recap from Roland Garros

Mohab Ghobranios

The quarter-finals of the French Open has drawn to a close.

Here are the highlights and the lowlights of a set of cracking matches.

Player Of The Round

Austria's Dominic Thiem celebrates wining his quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament against Serbia's Novak Djokovic in three sets 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-0, at the Roland Garros stadium
Austria’s Dominic Thiem celebrates winning his quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in three sets 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-0, at the Roland Garros stadium

Dominic Thiem sensationally beat defending champion Novak Djokovic 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-0, to book his place in the semi-finals and set up a highly anticipated clash with nine-time titlist Rafael Nadal.

Thiem put in a superb performance and showed why he is one of the most exciting young talents in the game, blasting 38 winners, to hand the world number 2 his first bagel in a major since 2005.

Shock Of The Round

Austria's Dominic Thiem, left, meets Serbia's Novak Djokovic after their quarterfinal match the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium
Austria’s Dominic Thiem, left, meets Serbia’s Novak Djokovic after their quarterfinal match the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium

It wasn’t a big shock to see Dominic Thiem beat Novak Djokovic and advance to the semi-finals, but the shock was to see the defending champion losing in straight sets and to show to spirit to fight back.

The ‘bagel’ third set felt hugely out of character for Djokovic who is one of the game’s most ruthless fighters of the game, as he looked like he doesn’t want to be on the court.

Match of The Round

Romania's Simona Halep waves after defeating Ukraine's Elina Svitolina during their quarterfinal match of the French Open
Romania’s Simona Halep waves after defeating Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina during their quarterfinal match of the French Open

Former runner-up Simona Halep came back from trailing by a set and 5-1 down in the second to claim a 3-6 7-6(6) 6-0 win over Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, in one of the most memorable comebacks in the tournament’s history.

Halep, the 2014 runner-up, was down 5-1 in the second set, then was a point from losing while down 6-5 in the tiebreaker but came up with a backhand winner down the line to extend the match.

The Romanian will face Czech Karolina Pliskova in the last four.

Fact Of The Round

Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka is chasing a second French Open title
Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka is chasing a second French Open title

At 32 years 71 days, Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka becomes the oldest man to reach the semi-finals at Roland Garros since Jimmy Connors in 1985.

Shot Of The Round

Dominic Thiem v Novak Djokovic!

Stat Of The Round

Novak Djokovic’s 7-6(7) 6-3 6-0 defeat to Dominic Thiem was his first straight sets grand slam loss in four years.

Quote Of The Round

Serbia's Novak Djokovic answers reporters after losing to Austria's Dominic Thiem in a quarterfinal match of the French Open
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic answers reporters after losing to Austria’s Dominic Thiem in a quarterfinal match of the French Open

“Trust me, I’m thinking about many things, especially in the last couple months, At the same time, I have a responsibility to the game itself, towards others. We’ll see. Obviously, it’s not an easy decision to make, but I will see how I feel after Roland Garros and then decide what to do next.” Djokovic hinting that he may step back from tennis after losing to Dominic Thiem in straight sets in the French Open quarter-finals.