PARIS, June 7, 2018 (News Wires) - Rafael Nadal battled back from a set down to beat Diego Schwartzman 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in their rain-interruped French Open quarterfinal on Thursday, edging closer to an 11th title in Paris. The world No 1 was much-improved under the sunshine on Court Philippe Chatrier after finding life difficult in damp conditions the night before, finally seeing off dogged Argentinian Schwartzman on his fourth match point. Nadal will face Juan Martin del Potro, the fifth-seeded Argentine, in the semifinals. "It was a very difficult match, Diego is a good friend and a good player," said the 16-time Grand Slam champion. "After the stop for rain I played more aggressively and I'm very happy to be back in the semifinals here." It is the 11th time the 32-year-old Spaniard has reached the French Open last four, becoming only the third man in history to achieve the feat at a Grand Slam tournament, after Jimmy Connors at the US Open and Roger Federer at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. Nadal returned to the court midway through serving to level the match after bad weather ended play early on Wednesday evening. The struggles he faced on Wednesday in losing a set at Roland Garros for the first time since 2015 were put to bed during the second day of the match, as he broke 11th seed Schwartzman's serve four times in the final two sets to ease through. Juan Martin del Potro survived a tough duel with Marin Cilic to triumph 7-6, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 and set up a semi-final clash with Rafael Nadal. Resuming from last night when play was suspended due to rain two of the biggest servers on the tour wasted no time in resuming their epic battle. There were breaks on either side of the second set but it was Cilic who came through to level things up after Del Potro had won the opening set on Wednesday. He then broke Del Potro immediately as the Argentine struggled for rhythm and even argued with sections of the crowd. And after a real slog in set four the deadlock was finally broken when Del Potro broke in game 11 and then served out for the win. In another development, Novak Djokovic said he does not know if will play the grasscourt season after tumbling out of the French Open. The Serb, three-times a Wimbledon champion, appeared distraught after his quarter-final defeat by unseeded Marco Cecchinato in which he was treated for neck pain. Djokovic refused to enter the main press room at Roland Garros after his shock defeat, instead opting to speak to a few journalists in a smaller room where he offered nothing but short answers. "I don't know if I'm going to play on grass," Djokovic told a media conference room minutes after walking off court. When pressed on whether that meant he would not play at Wimbledon, the 31-year-old Serb was non-committal. "I don't know. I don't know what I'm going to do. I just came from the court. Sorry, guys, I can't give you that answer. "I cannot give you any answer."
