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Marin Cilic has dominated a fifth-set tiebreaker against Russian Andrey Rublev to advance to his first French Open semi-final.
- Croatian tennis player Marin Cilic will now face number eight seed Casper Ruud or teenager Holger Rune in a semi-final
- Andrey Rublev conceded a point to Cilic in the tiebreaker, and also volunteered to replay an earlier point
- The Russian has now failed to proceed from five quarter-final appearances at major tournaments
The 2014 US Open champion won 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (10-2) in a match that lasted more than four hours on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Wednesday (local time).
Rublev has now failed to proceed from five quarter-final appearances at major tournaments, although he was applauded for two acts of sportsmanship that helped his opponent during the match.
The 33-year-old Cilic will next face number eight seed Casper Ruud, or teenager Holger Rune, while the other men's semi-final will be between Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev.
Cilic used his serve to win key points, recording 33 aces.
There were just four service breaks in the match, with Rublev forcing a decider by breaking Cilic's serve for a 5-3 lead in the fourth set.
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In the first-to-ten tiebreaker, Cilic fell behind 2-1 before winning the next nine points, clinching it on the Russian's backhand return into the net.
Earlier in the tiebreaker, Rublev indicated that a Cilic shot was in and, at one-all in the fifth set, the seventh seed volunteered to replay the first point of the game after Cilic's shot was ruled out.
After their slugfest, Cilic applauded Rublev's sportsmanship.
"The win comes from being me. I played that kind of tennis the whole match, especially the fifth set was an incredible battle.
"A lot of heart. One had to go down and today was my day. But Andrey also played an incredible match. Bad luck to him.
"I felt more tired, emotionally, out there because Andrey plays a difficult game. He serves big, hits big and you don't have many chances.
"You have to keep up with your level, which I did. Unfortunately, I lost that fourth set. I thought I was close to getting the break.
"When you play this long, there will always be ups and downs in the match, but I kept my focus in the fifth."
With the win, the 20th-seeded Cilic becomes the first Croatian man to reach the semi-finals at all four grand slams and he's also just the fifth active men's player to achieve that feat after Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray.
Cilic last reached a semi-final at a grand slam at the 2018 Australian Open, eventually finishing runner-up to Roger Federer.
AP