Paris: Novak Djokovic set up a 58th meeting with Rafael Nadal on Wednesday when he reached his 40th Grand Slam semi-final at the French Open despite being held up by 5,000 fans needing to be evacuated to conform with a COVID-19 curfew. The semi-final clash is scheduled for tomorrow. 

World number one Djokovic defeated Italy’s Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5 to book his place in the last four in Paris for the 11th time. 

Earlier, Nadal, the 13-time champion, beat Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 to make the semi-finals for the 14th time. 

With Djokovic’s match extending beyond the national 11pm curfew, play was halted for around 20 minutes at 3-2 in the fourth set so that 5,000 fans could be funnelled out of Court Philippe Chatrier.

In another semi-final, German sixth seed Alexander Zverev will take on Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas tomorrow. 

While Zverev eased into his first French Open semi-final with a 6-4 6-1 6-1 win over Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Tuesday, Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Russian rival Daniil Medvedev 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 to reach the semis.