Djokovic, Thiem back for Saturday semi

Djokovic, the US Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, is scrapping to keep his ‘Novak Slam’ hopes alive after having his serve broken to fall behind in what had been a keenly-contested third set, with the pair still both looking towards the prospect of a final rematch with Roger Federer’s conqueror, Rafael Nadal.

In tremendously difficult, blustery conditions with the wind gusting clay into the players’ eyes and with rain having already forced one brief interruption on Court Philippe-Chatrier, play was finally halted for the day after almost one and a half hours of challenging combat.

Thiem had taken early command against an unsettled and out-of-sorts Djokovic, who seemed continually distracted after taking almost one minute to deliver his very first serve in the swirling wind and who eventually handed the first set 6-2 to the Austrian in just 29 minutes.

Thiem only dropped one point on serve in that set - the first that Djokovic had dropped all tournament - and had conceded only two more on his delivery in the second when rain first forced the pair off court with the Serb still struggling even while clinging on to a 3-2 lead.

The 10-minute break was just what the doctor ordered for Djokovic, who seemed to have found new resolve on return in his bid for a 27th successive Grand Slam match win while Thiem’s dominance on serve came to an end as he was broken in the eighth game.

Djokovic ended up levelling the match 6-3 after a 37-minute stanza but was still toiling by his immaculate standards in the third, when Thiem broke him in the fourth game.

When the rains came again, Djokovic looked happy to race back to the locker room.

It remains anybody’s match as Thiem looks for a chance to earn revenge for last year’s final defeat by Nadal and Djokovic seeks a third final date with the 11-time champion.