Talking of Coco Gauff, she’s only gone and reached the women’s doubles final too, she and Jessica Pegula beating Marion Keyes and Taylor Townsend 6-4, 7-6. The eighth-seeded American pair will play either Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko or Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic, who are currently in a deciding set, in the final.
In weather news, it’s raining in Paris. So Nadal and Zverev will face off under the roof on Philippe Chatrier.
Pre-match reading. Our man in Paris on Nadal’s ongoing love affair with Roland Garris:
And a profile of tomorrow’s teenage women’s finalist, by Caira Conner:
Preamble
Afternoon everyone. And welcome to men’s semi-finals day. If the quarters were anything to go by, we’re going to be strapping in for a long ride. We kick off of course with Rafael Nadal against Alexander Zverev, where we’ll get to see just how much that epic quarter-final win over Novak Djokovic has taken out of the Spaniard. If his fitness holds up, Nadal is well placed to claim that 14th Roland Garros title, and with Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz out of the way his chances may be strengthened. But Alcaraz’s conqueror, Zverev, will present a formidable challenge. He’s crept through this French Open slightly under the radar but his composed defeat of Alcaraz served notice of his threat.
After that, a resurgent Marin Cilic takes on the promising Norwegian Casper Ruud, who predicted he wouldn’t sleep until 4am after his four-set victory over Holger Rune. Assuming he’s rested up, he’ll pose a stern test to Cilic, who’s riding a crest of a wave after ousting Daniil Medvedev and seeing off Andrey Rublev in a magnificent quarter-final on Wednesday.
Should all be well worth hanging around for. Nadal v Zverev starts around 1.45pm BST.
