World number one Novak Djokovic reached his 10th French Open semi-final but suffered an injury scare before beating Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 yesterday.
A month after being defaulted for striking a line judge with a ball while playing Carreno Busta in the US Open fourth round, the 33-year-old Serbian found himself in trouble once again.
This time it was nothing more sinister than pains in his neck and arm as Djokovic lost the opening set to the 17th seed — the first one he has dropped in the tournament.
Djokovic looked flat and had to save break points early in the second set before raising his game to level the match.
It looked plain sailing when he led 3-0 in the third set before a dip allowed Carreno Busta back but Djokovic saved a break point at 3-3 before pulling away.
Djokovic, bidding for a second French Open crown, produced several loud roars as he tried to fire himself up.
Carreno Busta hung on gamely but Djokovic was superior in the big moments and one break in the fourth was enough to set up a semi-final clash with Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Greek fifth seed Tsitsipas reached his second Grand Slam semi-final as he raised his game after a slow start to defeat Russian Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.
Before the quarter-final on Court Philippe Chatrier, the 13th-seeded Rublev had won both previous tour-level meetings against fellow 22-year-old Tsitsipas with their last encounter less than two weeks ago in the final in Hamburg.
The Russian looked set to keep his record intact as he served for the first set at 5-4 but Tsitsipas, who also reached the semi-finals at last year’s Australian Open, then won three straight games to take the opener.
Tsitsipas did not look back from there and broke his opponent three more times in the next two sets.


Kenin beats Collins
In the women’s draw, fourth seed Sofia Kenin claimed her maiden French Open semi-final spot as she fought to a 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 victory against fellow American Danielle Collins.
The Australian Open champion was kept on her toes for two sets by an opponent who had beaten her in their previous encounters before strolling through the decider to set up a clash with Czech seventh seed Petra Kvitova, who powered past unseeded German Laura Siegemund 6-3, 6-3 yesterday.
Collins seemed bothered by midriff pains in the third set, looking unable to give her maximum effort in the finale on court Philippe Chatrier.
After a solid start on both sides, Collins served a woeful double fault to hand Kenin the first break of the match, and a 3-2 lead.
She held serve and set up another break point at 4-2 but Collins saved it to stay in contention.
Kenin was, however, solid on her service games and she bagged the opening set when her opponent’s return sailed wide.
It was the first time Kenin took a set against Collins in four encounters, and the fourth seed kept her momentum, breaking again for 3-2 in the second set as her unseeded opponent smacked a forehand long.
But this time, Collins hit back to level for 3-3 and she started to threaten Kenin’s serve, eventually breaking again to level.
The comeback was short-lived, though, as Collins quickly fell 4-0 behind in the decider before taking a medical timeout, holding her midriff as she went off the court for treatment.
Kenin easily won the remaining two games.
Kvitova, 30, a two-times champion at Wimbledon, reached the last four stage on the claycourts at Roland Garros for the second time since 2012 and was yet to lose a set at this year’s tournament in Paris.
Siegemund, ranked 66th in the world, did not pose a challenge in the opening set but gave a good account of herself in the second despite suffering a lower back problem midway through the set.
Kvitova converted her second match point when her 32-year-old opponent served a double fault.


RESULTS
 Men (Quarter-finals)
* 1-Novak Djokovic (SRB) bt 17-Pablo Carreño-Busta (ESP) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
* 5-Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) bt 13-Andrey Rublev (RUS) 7-5, 6-2, 6-3


Women (Quarter-finals)
 * 4-Sofia Kenin (USA) bt Danielle Collins (USA) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0
* 7-Petra Kvitova (CZE) bt Laura Siegemund (GER) 6-3, 6-3