2017 French Open Men’s Semifinals: How to Watch

By Austin SiegelJun 8, 2017, 7:04 PM EDT

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The 2017 French Open continues on NBC Sports with coverage of the men’s semifinal on Friday. While the women’s tournament saw several underdogs advance to the penultimate round at Roland Garros (with Simona Halep and Jelena Ostapenko advancing to Saturday’s final), the men’s semis on Friday will be a matchup of tennis heavyweights.

N0. 1 Andy Murray faces off against No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in the early match of the day before No. 4 Rafael Nadal battles No. 6 Dominic Thiem. Coverage begins at 11 a.m. ET on NBC and the NBC Sports app.

Despite owning the higher seed, Murray will face a stern challenge in the hard-hitting Wawrinka, who raised the Coupe des Mousquetaires in 2015 after defeating Novak Djokovic for his second Grand Slam title. Both players are adept on clay and own three Grand Slam titles, giving the winner a chance to break this trophy tie among two of the best in the modern game.

A legend awaits on the other side of the bracket, as Nadal faces Thiem in the second match of the day. The 23-year old Austrian pulled off a major upset over Novak Djokovic to reach the French Open semis for the second year in a row. His reward? A meeting with the greatest clay court player of all-time in a resurgent Nadal, who has returned to his usual dominance at Roland Garros after missing out on the tournament semifinals in back-to-back years for the first time since 2005.

Who: Andy Murray vs. Stan Wawrinka and Rafael Nada vs. Dominic Thiem

When: Thursday, 11 a.m. ET

Where: NBC and the NBC Sports app

At French Open, Francisco Cerundolo is mad at chair umpire over Holger Rune’s double-bounce

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:49 PM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS – Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was devastated about losing his French Open fourth-round match to Holger Rune of Denmark in a fifth-set tiebreaker Monday. He also was mad at chair umpire Kader Nouni for missing a double-bounce of the ball on a point that was awarded to Rune early in his 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory.

They were tied at a set apiece and on serve at 2-1 for the No. 6-seeded Rune early in the third at Court Suzanne Lenglen when the point of contention happened. Cerundolo, who was serving at deuce, hit a forehand that skidded low at the baseline and quickly bounced a second time – which normally would have meant that the point was his.

But Rune went ahead and got his racket on the ball, sending it back over the net. At about the same time, No. 23 seed Cerundolo was saying “sorry” to apologize for the odd way his forehand made the ball skim across the clay. Nouni was not immediately aware of the double-bounce, thought the ball was still in play and called Cerundolo for hindrance for talking during a point. That meant Rune got the point, and when he won the next one, too, he had a service break.

“It was unbelievable, because it was a clear double-bounce. I was mad at the umpire because he has to see it,” Cerundolo said. “It’s his fault.”

In tennis, electronic line-calling is used at many tournaments to make line calls, but replays are not used to check things like double-bounces or whether a point should be lost because a player touches the net, which is not allowed.

And while Cerundolo put the onus on the official, he also thought Rune could have ceded the point because of the double-bounce.

“For sure, I wish he would have done that, because it was a big moment,” Cerundolo said.

Rune, who moved into a matchup against No. 4 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals, said he saw a replay after the following point, and “saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened, and he called the score. So I felt sorry.”

But, Rune added: “This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.