Unseeded Krejcikova beats Coco Gauff to reach French Open semifinals

PARIS — When one last forehand from defending champion Iga Swiatek landed wide in the French Open quarterfinals, Maria Sakkari crouched on Court Philippe Chatrier and bowed her head, relishing the moment.

Sakkari is still two wins away from lifting the trophy, but Wednesday’s victory means she’s already in new territory — just like the other three women left in the draw.

Sakkari ended Swiatek’s 11-match and 22-set winning streaks at Roland Garros by beating her 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday to guarantee that there will be a first-time Grand Slam champion when the tournament ends.

On Thursday, the 17th-seeded Sakkari plays unseeded Barbora Krejcikova in the semifinals, and No. 31 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova faces unseeded Tamara Zidansek. All four are making their Slam semifinal debuts.

“We are four very good players,” Sakkari said. “Players that can win a title, for sure.”

Krejcikova advanced Wednesday by eliminating 17-year-old Coco Gauff 7-6 (6), 6-3.

This is only the second time in the professional era there has been four first-time semifinalists at any major tournament, according to the WTA. It also happened at the 1978 Australian Open.

In the men’s quarterfinals, 13-time champion Rafael Nadal’s streak of sets won at Roland Garros ended at 36, but he quickly recovered to defeat Diego Schwartzman, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0. Nadal’s semifinal foe will be No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who got past Matteo Berrettini, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5, in a night match delayed for more than 20 minutes in the fourth set while the stadium was cleared out because of a covid-19 curfew.

Sakkari, who can become Greece’s first Grand Slam singles champion, and Krejcikova, who is from the Czech Republic, are 25. Each has won only one tour-level title. Neither had been past the fourth round at a major until now.

Sakkari lost her first seven third-round Slam matches, which raised some doubts that have since been erased.

“I thought about it a lot of times — that maybe that was my ceiling, and I could not get any higher in the rankings, playing better in tournaments,” she said. “But this year I proved (to) myself that I’m actually playing really good.”

Both Sakkari and Krejcikova dealt with early deficits Wednesday.

Swiatek, a 20-year-old from Poland who has looked untouchable on clay, jumped out to a 2-0 lead. But then Sakkari took over, winning eight of 10 games. When Sakkari smacked a backhand winner down the line to close a 15-stroke point that claimed the first set, she leaned over and punched the air with her right fist.

That ended Swiatek’s set streak at Roland Garros, which dated to the beginning of last year’s tournament, when she dropped only 28 games in all. She’d only lost 20 games this year through four matches.