Novak Djokovic moved a step closer to a maiden French Open title when he swept aside Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-5 6-3 to reach the semi-finals at Roland Garros on Thursday. The world number one, whose half of the draw got easier after nine-times champion Rafael Nadal pulled out injured last week, will next take on Austrian tyro Dominic Thiem. Serbian Djokovic breezed through the opening set, overcame a slight glitch in the second and came back stronger after a brief rain interruption to seal a straightforward win. He ended the contest on his second match point when Berdych returned into the net. Dominic Thiem reaches semis Gutsy young gun Dominic Thiem saw off Belgium's David Goffin 4-6 7-6(7) 6-4 6-1 in a French Open clash on Thursday to reach his first grand slam semi-final, where he will face world number one Novak Djokovic. Both players took time to find their range in cold, damp conditions and the first three games yielded three breaks of serve, including one that 12th-seeded Goffin conceded on a double fault. Thiem, seeded 13, began finding the lines with heavy groundstrokes off both wings but, as his accuracy then waned, the Belgian tightened his defensive play, creating openings to attack the Austrian's weaker backhand and winning the set on his first set point. But after a tight second set that Thiem shaded 9-7 in the tiebreak, the Austrian added the precision that his power game had earlier been missing to take the third and fourth sets more comfortably.
