French Open: And so they meet again…

Sizzling Djokovic-Murray semi-final clash expected to paint Roland Garros red

PARIS:

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray meet for the 27th time on Friday with a French Open final place at stake and with history on their shoulders.

World number one Djokovic ended the reign of nine-time champion Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals, handing the Spaniard just his second defeat in 72 matches at Roland Garros in a decade of extraordinary dominance.

A win on Friday for the 28-year-old Serb will put him in a third final in Paris and just one victory away from a first French Open trophy and a career Grand Slam, a feat achieved by just seven other men.

By seeing off David Ferrer for the first time on clay, Murray has become the first British man to make the semi-finals in Paris on three occasions.

Victory on Friday would make him the first Briton to reach the men’s final since Bunny Austin in 1937. Fred Perry, meanwhile, remains Britain’s last king of Paris, winning the title in 1935.

Djokovic has a 40-2 record in 2015, having clinched a fifth Australian Open as well as Masters titles at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Rome. On clay, he is 15-0.

Murray had never won a title on clay before this year — now he has two courtesy of Munich and Madrid.

He, too, has 15 wins under his belt on clay with his one ‘loss’, to David Goffin in Rome, only coming via a withdrawal.

“Andy has improved on clay, no doubt about it,” said Djokovic, who has reached a 24th successive Grand Slam semi-final. “He is moving better, serving really well and he’s always had a touch. He’s extremely talented and a great fighter.”

Djokovic has reached his fifth successive French Open semi-final and has been runner-up twice, to Nadal in 2012 and 2014.

So something has to give on Friday in the red-hot atmosphere of Court Philippe Chatrier which is likely to be more intense courtesy of the 30-degree heat expected at the end of the week.

When facing Murray in those conditions, it has been Djokovic who has proved the more durable.

“If it gets up to that temperature, it will make it tough physically and the court will become quicker,” said Murray. “But I will just keep doing what I have been doing and have a good game plan.”

The clash between the top and third seeds has overshadowed Friday’s second semi-final between Swiss eighth seed Stan Wawrinka and French 14th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2015.

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