Italian job: Djoker stunned

Paris, Marco Cecchinato beat former champion and 12-times Major winner Novak Djokovic 6-3 7-6(4) 1-6 7-6(11) at the French Open on Tuesday to become the first Italian man to reach a Grand Slam semifinal in 40 years.Cecchinato cruised through the opening set as Djokovic was suffering from neck pain before the Serbian fought back after the loss of the second. His opponent, however, was the stronger in an epic fourth-set tiebreak, prevailing on his fourth match point.The last Italian man to take part in a major semi-final was Corrado Barazzutti at the 1978 French Open.The unseeded Cecchinato, who broke down in tears after the match, next faces Austrian Dominic Thiem for a place in Sunday’s final. Djokovic said he does not know if will play the grasscourt season after tumbling out of the French Open. The Serb appeared distraught after his quarterfinal defeat by Cecchinato. “I don’t know if I’m going to play on grass,” Djokovic told a media conference room minutes after walking off court.Dominant Thiem conquers hobbling AlexanderDominic Thiem reached his third successive French Open semifinal today with a 6-4 6-2 6-1 demolition of a hobbled and exhausted Alexander Zverev. Thiem, the Austrian seventh seed, goes on to face Italy’s world No. 72 Marco Cecchinato for a place in Sunday’s final.German second seed Zverev simply ran out of gas, paying a heavy price for needing three successive five-set matches to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal. His Roland Garros marathon also left him physically drained —he needed his left thigh strapped in the second set.“He is one of the fittest guys on the tour so it was difficult for him today,” said Thiem, the only man to have defeated 10-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal on clay this year. “I hope we have many more matches at the Grand Slams but when we are 100 percent. It’s great to reach the semi-finals for a third year but it’s time to take another step and I will do everything for that.” The statistics made bleak reading for Zverev — he finished with 42 unforced errors and just 19 winners. In a tight first set of a match played in overcast, heavy conditions, Thiem converted the only break point off a backhand winner in the seventh game before securing the opener with an ace.Zverev, who had spent more than two and a half hours than his Austrian opponent getting to this stage, hit 13 unforced errors to Thiem’s miserly eight. A double break took the 24-year-old Austrian to 4-1 in the second set before Zverev needed a medical timeout for a leg injury.With his left thigh heavily strapped, the 21-year-old German was soon two sets down and looking at having to become the first player to win four consecutive five-setters if he was to make the semi-finals. Zverev managed just four winners in the second set.