Argentina's Diego Schwartzman has outlasted Dominic Thiem in a brutal claycourt war of attrition to prevail 7-6(1) 5-7 6-7(6) 7-6(5) 6-2 and reach his first Grand Slam semi-final at the French Open.
Schwartzman had never beaten a top-five player at a Grand Slam and had lost his three previous quarter-finals, including one at Roland Garros, but the 28-year-old was relentless in his pursuit of victory.
Both players appeared to be running on empty at times, as they slugged out endless rallies from the baseline for 5h 8m on a windy Court Philippe Chatrier.
Third seed Thiem, the US Open champion, saved a set point in the third, before moving two-sets-to-one ahead, and when Schwartzman saw three more set points disappear at 5-4 in the fourth, the third after a sensational running forehand winner by Thiem, he seemed to be falling short again.
But the 12th seed showed incredible resilience to come back from 3-1 down in the tiebreak and drag it into a final set.
Schwartzman looked the fresher player in the decider and Thiem, who was bidding to reach a fifth successive French Open semi, began to look ragged, as he dropped serve to love in the sixth game with a netted backhand.
After so many momentum shifts in a gruelling contest featuring 19 breaks of serve, a Thiem comeback was still on the cards, but Schwartzman was rock solid in the closing straight, sealing arguably the biggest win of his career, when Thiem dumped a weary-looking dropshot into the net.
"Dominic is one of the best players in the world right now, two times in the final here and winning the last Grand Slam," Schwartzman says.
"We are friends and I have a lot of respect for him, but this match was important for me. This was the third five-setter I've played here and this is the first one I've won.
"I think tonight I deserved it."
Schwartzman will have to recover quickly, as 12-times French Open champion Rafa Nadal awaits in the semi-final.
Schwartzman will go into the match with confidence, after beating the Spaniard on his way to the Rome Masters final in the build-up to Roland Garros.
Nadal passed his first real test of this year's tournament with a 7-6(4) 6-4 6-1 victory over Italian rising star Jannik Sinner, as his quest for a record-breaking 13th title gathered momentum.
The Spaniard, also looking to match Roger Federer's record of 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles, was stretched like rarely before by the 19-year-old Sinner.
The 34-year-old Nadal's 97 previous victories at Roland Garros made the difference in the key moments, as he rallied from a break down in the first two sets.
Sinner, the first French Open debutant to reach the last eight since Nadal in 2005, confirmed his immense potential, but lacked just a bit of composure when it mattered.
Reuters
