World no. 6 Juan Martin del Potro outclassed Marin Cilic of Croatia, 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 6-3 7-5, to set up a fascinating semifinal clash of Roland Garros with top seed Rafael Nadal.
With this, del Potro progressed to the semifinals for the first time since 2009. He is set to face Nadal on Friday.
Nadal lost his first set at the French Open since 2015 but that blip did not prevent the 10-time champion from marching into the semifinals with a 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory over Diego Schwartzman in their rain-delayed match.
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In the quarterfinal match, the Argentinian tennis ace del Potro, who had suffered a groin injury prior to the French Open fought back after losing the second set to Cilic.
During the course of the match, del Potro confronted a spectator who was creating a ruckus in the stand, distracting him. He immediately reacted and gestured angrily to the spectator.
The Argentinian player then exchanged words with the umpire and threw his racquet in a fit of rage. However, he recovered well afterwards.
It may be recalled that in 2009, del Potro lost to Swiss great Roger Federer in the semifinals of French Open. However, in the same year, the Argentinian avenged his defeat and won the US Open.
Earlier, Nadal had looked out of sorts in damp conditions as Schwartzman bombarded him with winners to cause him all sorts of problems, with the Argentine leading by a set and a break when the players were first called off court due to rain.
Upon resumption, the Spaniard gradually improved before rain brought an early end to the day with Nadal on the brink of winning the second set. It was a very different story when the contest resumed on Thursday in drier conditions as Nadal won 12 of the first 13 points before cruising into the last four.