During his interviews, Djokovic would say that he played 3 good sets and not to worry about the silly set that he dropped.  Throughout the tournament, Djokovic had a pretty easy draw.  Expected to play Ferrer or possibly Roddick, Djokovic must have thought he had a free ride to the semifinals.  Playing the Austrian veteran, Jurgen Melzer, Djokovic would face a player that had never gotten past the 3rd round of any Slam.  Melzer upset Ferrer, then beat Gabashvili and then faced Djokovic.

Djokovic took the first two sets easily, and then had a break up in the 3rd set, when his fitness issues seemed to crop up again.  Djokovic did not win another game in the set.  In the fourth, Melzer kept holding his serve pretty easily while Djokovic struggled.  Djokovic was down 3-4, 0-40, and must have saved at least half a dozen break points to get it to 4-all.  Indeed, he only won 4 of 24 break points which showed how well Djokovic was fending break points, but also how much danger Djokovic was in too.

After Melzer took the fourth set in the tiebreak, rather easily, jumping to a 6-0 lead before dropping 3 points then winning the tiebreak.  In the fifth set, it was again, Djokovic struggling on his own serve, mostly because Melzer was playing fairly aggressive, yet mixing up with numerous drop shots, some Djokovic got to, and some he didn’t.  At 4-all, Djokovic was down 15-40 and managed to win both points to get to deuce and even had ad points to hold serve, but Melzer kept in the game, and broke Djokovic.

Djokovic now had to break, something he hadn’t done in a while.  He was up 0-15, then hit what seemed to be a pass crosscourt for 0-30, but the chair umpire called it out, and it was 15-all.  Melzer would get to match point, but hit a shot in the net.  On the second match point, Djokovic hit a short ball which Melzer hit hard crosscourt, and then Djokovic hit that shot deep, and Melzer netted it.  Eventually, on the final match point, Djokovic drove a ball deep, and the upset was complete.  Final score: 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(3), 6-4.

In the other quarterfinal, Almagro looked to give Nadal his toughest match.  Almagro broke early on as Nadal was standing way back, much further than he has been standing recently, but it didn’t take long for Nadal to break back.  Both held serve to the tiebreak which Nadal won 7 points to 2.  There were no breaks in the second set, but Nadal again asserted control and won the tiebreak 7 points to 3.  Finally, in the fourth set, there was a break late in the third, and Nadal was able to take the match, 6-4.

In the end, although Almagro pushed Nadal pretty hard, he made a few too many errors.  He hit big on his own serves, and that helped him to numerous holds, but it wasn’t enough to pressure Nadal on his serve.

Final score: 7-6(2), 7-6(3), 6-4.

Nadal now plays Melzer.  Despite Melzer being 29, the two have only met twice, once in Madrid 2009, and once in the Olympics.  In both cases, Nadal lost 4 games to get a straight set victory.  Few will expect Melzer to win.  He doesn’t hit as hard as Almagro, but he does seem steadier.

On Friday, both men’s semis will be played.  This will be Soderling’s second French Open semis against Berdych.  Berdych won their last meeting easily, but Soderling won their previous meeting just as easily.  Berdych has never reached the semis of a Slam.  This match is expected to be interesting.  Their one close match was on clay, which Berdych won in 3 sets.  Even so, Soderling is probably favored because he’s been in this situation before.

Melzer is probably in very good shape, physically, so he’ll probably be able to bounce back in 2 days, but whether he’ll have enough game to bother Nadal, most people would say, no way.