Marin Cilic joined an elite group of active men's players to have reached the last four at all the Grand Slams as the world number 23 advanced to his first Roland Garros semi-final by beating Russian seventh seed Andrey Rublev.
Marin Cilic Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Cilic joined Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray as the only active players to have made the semis at all the majors.
"Absolutely fantastic achievement for me, to be... just among them," Cilic, whose last semi-final appearance at a major was at the 2018 Australian Open, said.
"I would say last few years, coming back from 2017, I started to feel great on clay and had some great success.
"But, you know, in the end it's also such a short season for clay, it's difficult to time everything every single season."
The Croatian advanced to his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open in 2010. Four years later, he claimed his first and only major title at the U.S. Open, and made it to the final at the Wimbledon in 2017.
The former world number three, however, has enjoyed the fact that in recent years he has been out of the media spotlight.
"I'm happy with less press conferences," Cilic said smiling. "That was fantastic, I have to say, in these last two years. Every tournament, easy, no press... I'm kidding.
"No, (it) just comes down to the guys who are under the highlights. These guys have been... the top of the game (for) so many years. Looking at my own career, I had some obviously huge successes and won so many things.
"But also comparing to the top guys, it was not as consistent, you know. Had three, four seasons that were incredibly good... but I was a little bit in and out.
"I'm just trying to use my opportunities... every day, every match to give my best (so that) when I go out of the game I'm absolutely proud. If I do more conferences, it's fine, yeah," he added smiling.
Cilic will next face Norwegian eighth seed Casper Ruud.
Ruud battled past teenager Holger Rune 6-1 4-6 7-6(2) 6-3 to become the first Norwegian to reach this stage in any Grand Slam.
He will play Croatian 20th seed Marin Cilic in the semi-final.
"Of course a lot of nerves all day to get going. It's tough to find calm and peace," Ruud said. "I started great but Holger fought back and raised his level."
"I had played him three times already, now fourth, I guess I know a little bit how he plays. He plays fearless, goes for big shots."
"It's a big day for Norwegian tennis," Ruud said. "I will use tomorrow to prepare. These matches are the ones you are dreaming about playing."
The 23-year-old quickly raced to a 5-0 lead, twice breaking the teenager in the process and blitzing him with sensational cross-court forehand winners, clinching the first set after 34 minutes.
Casper Ruud Photo: PHOTOSPORT
In his first French Open appearance, Rune, who had dumped out fourth seed and last year's finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas in the previous round, was left shaking his head at his opponent's faultless performance, looking towards his box for advice as his unforced errors started to accumulate.
Rune, who had lost all three previous encounters to Ruud in straight sets, quickly changed tactics, playing three consecutive drop shots while also charging to the net to move 1-0 up.
The world number eight continued to keep him pinned to the back and got another break to move into the driving seat with a 3-2 lead.
The Dane, however, was in no mood to give up just yet, battling back from 0-40 on Ruud's serve to break when he chased down a drop shot and whipped a forehand past his opponent to level.
Some cracks started to appear in the Norwegian's game and Rune pounced, winning the second set on his first opportunity on Ruud's serve.
Neither refused to budge in the third until both were broken once but Ruud powered through the tiebreak to go 2-1 up.
Rune saved two break points on his serve to level at 1-1 at the start of the fourth but Ruud kept up the pressure.
He got the break he wanted when Rune sent a crosscourt forehand wide, to go 5-3 up and served for the match before winning it with a disputed line call.
-Reuters
