Andy Murray overcame his own frustration as much as his French opponent and a partisan crowd Wednesday, beating No. 9 Richard Gasquet 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-0, 6-2 to reach his fourth semifinal at Roland Garros.
Often pointing at his temple between points, Murray would mutter to himself or yell at members of his entourage over the nearly 3½-hour quarterfinal.
He alternated between brilliant and bad before finally seizing control by taking the last six points of the second-set tiebreaker, then grabbing 12 of the final 14 games.
The No. 2-seeded Murray ran his winning streak to 10 matches, all on clay, and now takes on defending champion Stan Wawrinka. Murray enters that match with an 0-3 record in French Open semifinals.
Stan Wawrinka, the defending men’s champion beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (7) to become the only Swiss man other than Roger Federer to have reached the semifinals of the clay-court major tournament multiple times. Federer, absent this year with an aching back, has played in seven semifinals and five finals, winning the title once, in 2009.
Wawrinka improved his career record against Ramos-Vinolas to 7-0. He will play either Andy Murray or Richard Gasquet in the semifinals.
Tomas Berdych set up a French Open quarterfinal match against Novak Djokovic by beating 2013 runner-up David Ferrer 6-3, 7-5, 6-3.
Advancing beyond the fourth round at Roland Garros for only the third time in 13 attempts, the seventh-seeded Czech player saved all nine break points he faced in the match that was postponed Monday because of rain and started Tuesday only to be interrupted by more rain in the first set.
David Goffin is also through to the quarterfinals, completing another rain-interrupted fourth-round match. The 12th-seeded Belgian beat Ernests Gulbis 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.
Defending champion Serena Williams powered into the French Open quarter-finals on Wednesday, but Timea Bacsinszky dumped out sister Venus as the Swiss continued her love affair with Paris.
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.
The world No 1 one continues her pursuit of a record-equalling 22nd Open era Grand Slam title against 60th-ranked Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.
The 34-year-old American faces the likelihood of playing four matches in four days as she targets a fourth French Open crown, but Serena played down concerns about the schedule.
Swiss eighth seed Bacsinszky ended any prospect of Serena facing sister Venus in the semi-finals after dumping out the elder Williams in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4. Bacsinszky, who reached the semi-finals in Paris a year ago, reeled off nine of 10 games after trailing 0-2 in the first set to lay the foundation for her victory.
Putintseva, 21, the youngest player left in the draw, extended her best run at a major with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Spanish 12th seed Carla Suarez Navarro.
No. 4-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain also reached the French Open semifinals for the first time after beating American Shelby Rogers 7-5, 6-3.
After losing in the quarterfinals the past two seasons, Muguruza’s joy was evident as she threw her racket up into the air after clinching victory with a forehand winner on her first match point.