French Open: Tsitsipas reaches Roland Garros semis with Rublev win

Greek overcomes slow start to defeat Russian Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-2, 6-3

epa08727036 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece reacts after winning against Andrey Rublev of Russia in their men’s quarter final match during the French Open tennis tournament at Roland ​Garros in Paris, France, 07 October 2020.  EPA/JULIEN DE ROSA
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Greek fifth seed Stefanos 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 at the French Open on Wednesday.

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 to set up a meeting against either world No 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia or Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.