PARIS -- World No. 1 Novak Djokovic reached another French Open semifinal with a 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 victory over fifth seed Alexander Zverev as he stretched his Grand Slam winning run to 26 matches on Thursday.
Djokovic moved within two victories of holding all four titles at the majors at the same time for the second time in his career by defeating his German opponent in 2 hours, 9 minutes.
Today, he meets fourth-seed Dominic Thiem, who was clinical in his 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 defeat of 10th-seed Karen Khachanov to help him advance into the Roland Garros semis for the fourth consecutive year.
Teenager Amanda Anisimova meanwhile fired 25 winners as she shocked title holder Simona Halep 6-2, 6-4 for the latest major upset in the women's field.
She now faces eighth-seed Ash Barty, who beat 14th-seed Madison Keys 6-3, 7-5 and is also in her first semifinal at the majors.
All four matches were originally scheduled for Wednesday but fell victim to rain. As a result, the women's semifinals, originally scheduled for Thursday, have been pushed back one day and will be held ahead of the men's semifinals today.
The first men's semifinal will be the 39th meeting between second-seeded 11-time champion Rafael Nadal and third-seeded 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, and the other women's semifinal is unseeded teenager Marketa Vondoursova versus 26th-seed Johanna Konta.
It is the first time since the 2011 tournament that the four top-seeded men have made the semis at Roland Garros.
"I think it's great to have the top four players competing in the semifinals on the biggest event because it brings even more rivalry, more importance to those matches and to the tournament in general," Djokovic said.
Zverev wasted break points in the third and fifth game before finally breaking for 5-4. However, Djokovic instantly broke back and took the set two games later on a Zverev double fault.
It got worse for Zverev in the second where he quickly trailed 3-0 and he ended the set with three consecutive double faults.
Djokovic, 32, broke for 4-2 in the third, saved two break points in the next game and wrapped up matters when Zverev's backhand fell long, his 40th unforced error compared to Djokovic's 18.
"I was behind and then played four, five perfect games," Djokovic said in an on-court interview. "It is important to stay calm in deciding moments."
Djokovic holds the Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Australian Open titles and with a second French Open title would complete a non-calendar Grand Slam.
Last year's runner-up Thiem, 25, was rarely troubled by Khachanov as like Djokovic he didn't drop serve while breaking his opponent five times en route to victory in 1 hour, 47 minutes, which he sealed with a service winner on first match point.
Thiem, who fired 29 winners and had just 12 unforced errors, was a finalist at Roland Garros last year and was in the last four in 2017 and 2016 as well.
"I'm happy with the way I'm playing," Thiem said before adding he knows just how tough it will be today and in a possible final.
"I will step on the court tomorrow, try everything, give everything," he said. "I hope it's going to be positive in the end, but the challenge is huge. I'm in the semifinals with maybe the three best players of all time, so everybody can see how tough the way it is for me."
Anisimova made headlines at Indian Wells last year by reaching the last 16 as a 16-year-old qualifier, beating twice Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova en route, and lifted a first trophy at the Bogota event this year.
She started the match by holding serve, which ended Halep's stunning run of 16 consecutive breaks at the tournament. The rampant American then won seven games in a row from 2-2 in the first set to 3-0 in the second. Halep recovered to 4-4 but it was to no avail as Anisimova kept her cool and clinched victory with a final winner.
"It's crazy. I really can't believe the result today. And getting the opportunity to play against Simona, that's amazing, but how it ended is even crazier to me," Anisimova said.
Barty meanwhile took the first set on Court Suzanne Lenglen thanks to an eighth-game break. She went ahead 5-3 in the second, only for Keys to tie at 5-5. But the 23-year-old got another break for 6-5 on Keys' double fault and then served out the match at love.
"I think that's probably close to my best match that I have played over the last month on the clay," Barty said. "The fact that we're still here in the last few days is incredible."
At a glance
FRENCH OPEN RESULTS
PARIS -- Results Thursday from the French Open at Stade Roland Garros (seedings in parentheses):
Men's Singles Quarterfinals
Novak Djokovic (1), Serbia, def. Alexander Zverev (5), Germany, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.
Dominic Thiem (4), Austria, def. Karen Khachanov (10), Russia, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
Women's SinglesQuarterfinals
Ashleigh Barty (8), Australia, def. Madison Keys (14), United States, 6-3, 7-5.
Amanda Anisimova, United States, def. Simona Halep (3), Romania, 6-2, 6-4.
Men's Doubles Semifinals
Fabrice Martin, France and Jeremy Chardy, France, def. Robert Farah, Colombia and Juan Sebastian Cabal (3), Colombia, 7-5, 6-4.
Kevin Krawietz, Germany and Andreas Mies, Germany, def. Guido Pella, Argentina and Diego Schwartzman, Argentina, 7-5, 6-3.
Women's DoublesQuarterfinal
Elise Mertens, Belgium and Aryna Sabalenka (6), Belarus, def. Lyudmyla Kichenok, Ukraine and Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia, 7-5, 6-2.
Sports on 06/07/2019