Rafael Nadal finally dropped a set at the French Open in two years, but that did not stop him from storming into the semifinal, with a four-set win over 10th seed Diego Schwartzman 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-0 on Wednesday and storm into the French Open semi-finals.
Schwartzman ended Nadal's run of 36 consecutive sets won at Roland Garros, but could not prevent the Spaniard from winning the match 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-0.
The 13-time French Open champion will next play either top seed Novak Djokovic or Matteo Berrettini who meet in the last quarterfinal later on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Maria Sakkari ended defending champion Iga Swiatek's 11-match and 22-set winning streaks at the French Open and reached the semifinals of a major tournament for the first time.
The 17th-seeded Sakkari used strong and steady baseline play to eliminate Swiatek 6-4, 6-4 at Court Philippe Chatrier in the quarterfinals and ensure that the clay-court tournament will end with a new Grand Slam champion.
All four women remaining in the field are making their Slam semifinal debuts. This is only the second time in the professional era that's been the case at any major tournament, according to the WTA; there also was a quartet of first-time semifinalists at the 1978 Australian Open.
On Thursday, Sakkari plays unseeded Barbora Krejcikova, and No. 31 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova faces unseeded Tamara Zidansek.
Krejcikova advanced earlier Wednesday by beating 17-year-old Coco Gauff 7-6 (6), 6-3.
Sakkari, who is from Greece, and Krejcikova, who is from the Czech Republic, are both 25. Each has won only one tour-level title. Neither had been past the fourth round at a major until now.
(With PTI inputs)
