Novak Djokovic into French Open semis with fighting win over Karen Khachanov

Novak Djokovic worked through a sluggish, flat start before recovering to reach the semi-finals of the French Open. After trailing by a set, he fought back to produce a convincing 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-4 win against Karen Khachanov, the 11th seed, confidently passing his biggest test of the tournament so far.

With his victory Djokovic has now reached 45 major semi-finals and a 12th on the clay courts of the French Open. The biggest obstacle between him and his 23rd grand slam title will come next as he faces either Carlos Alcaraz, the world No 1, or the fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. Alcaraz and Tsitsipas will do battle in Tuesday night’s feature match.

As Khachanov attempted to reach his third consecutive grand slam semi-final, it was the Russian who set the tone early on. He served extremely well while striking his forehand cleanly and taking control of the early exchanges. Djokovic, in the meantime, struggled to find any rhythm and failed to impose himself in the opening set after trailing by an early break.

“Everything was going in a great direction and then I stepped out on the court today and probably part of me stayed in the locker room. That’s how I felt, that’s how I played,” Djokovic said.

Djokovic faced the prospect of a two-set deficit at the beginning of the second set tie-break. Under pressure, the Serb responded with his best form of the clay season so far. He struck four winners and a sweet backhand drop shot, and then elicited two forced errors from Khachanov in a flawless tie-break. With the match level, Djokovic eased into another French Open semi-final.

“The first couple of sets [were] probably the worst two sets I played so far in the tournament,” Djokovic said. “And then the third and fourth were