PARIS, June 7, 2017

World No. 1 Andy Murray is through to his 21st Grand Slam semi-final, where he will meet Stan Wawrinka at Roland Garros on Friday. The 30-year-old Briton fought past eighth seed Kei Nishikori of Japan on Wednesday afternoon 2-6, 6-1, 7-6, 6-1.

“As you get through the matches, you gain in confidence,” Murray said after the two hours and 39 minutes encounter. “I didn’t feel like I played great tennis today. It’s a huge step in the right direction for me. Anyone can win matches when they are playing well. It’s winning when you’re not playing your best that is more impressive. So I’m happy about that… Obviously if someone had offered me a semi-final spot before the tournament, I would have signed up for that because I was not playing well at all. And practice also was not good.”

The tournament’s number three Wawrinka advanced by beating seventh favourite Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 in one hour and 40 minutes.

Murray awaits another tough match. Both players met in last year’s semi-final, in which Murray dismissed the 2015 French Open titlist from Switzerland in four sets

“He’s played fantastic this tournament so far. I don’t think he’s dropped a set. Last year he was also playing very well and I had to play one of my best matches on clay to win so I know it will be very tough but I will fight as hard as I can and hopefully play some good tennis. I’ll make it a tough battle, but happy to make the semis again – it’s not always been easy for me here  – but these last few years have been great,” Murray told.

Women’s semi-final set

French hopes are over in the singles events as Caroline Garcia bows out after a straight sets defeat to the number two seed Karolina Pliskova from the Czech Republic. Pliskova is through to a second Grand Slam semi-final after a 7-6, 6-4 victory.

She will next take on third seed Simona Halep, who rallied past the tournament’s number five Elina Svitolina, winning 3-6, 7-6, 6-0 in two hours and six minutes.