Paris: Second seed Andy Murray booked a French Open semifinal showdown with defending champ Stan Wawrinka on Wednesday after defeating 9th seed Richard Gasquet 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 6-0, 6-2.
Frenchman Gasquet reeled off five straight games to recover from 5-2 down and claim the opening set, but Murray won a second set tie-break before claiming 12 of the next 14 games.
The world number two, through to his fourth semifinal in Paris, will bid to reach the Roland Garros final for the first time against Swiss third seed Wawrinka, who scored a 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (9/7) win over Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Earlier, World No.1 Novak Djokovic became the first player to smash the $100 million prize money barrier when he reached the quarterfinals with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 victory over Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut.
In the women’s section, Defending champion Serena Williams brushed off concerns about a busy playing schedule after powering into quarterfinals.
Serena reached the last eight at Roland Garros for the 10th time after pulverising 18th seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1 in just over an hour on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Swiss eighth seed Timea Bacsinszky dumped out sister Venus 6-2, 6-4 to rule out the prospect of the two Williams siblings meeting in the semi-finals.
Bacsinszky will meet unseeded Kiki Bertens, who reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal after beating Madison Keys 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.
