PARIS, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Austria's Dominic Thiem is projected to meet Italian underdog Marco Cecchinato in men's semifinals, while Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens set up an all-American women's semifinal at the 2018 French Open on Tuesday.
Thiem took revenge on German promising star Alexander Zverev, who won the ATP Madrid Masters final between the duo last month, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.
Zverev, who had already recorded his best Grand Slam performance after reaching the quarterfinals in Paris, suffered a left hamstring injury when returning the ball, thus being unable to stop in-from Thiem from moving forward.
"I didn't want to pull out for the first time of my career in a Grand Slam quarterfinal," Zverev explained at the press conference.
"I knew I'm not going to win the match. There was no way for me. I could barely move. I couldn't serve. I couldn't really do anything.
"But I still wanted to finish the match and kind of give the credit to Dominic (Thiem) to end on a loss, not on a retirement," he added.
It was the third straight year that Thiem positioned himself in the semifinals at Roland Garros.
"This year I'm physically and mentally fresher than I have been the last two years. I know how to handle a Grand Slam now, how to handle to get that deep in such a tournament. Everything gets better with experience," said the Austrian.
Cecchinato, placed 72nd at ATP Rankings, eliminated highly-ranked Pablo Carreno Busta and David Goffin en route to the quarterfinals. He took away the first two sets from the 2016 winner Novak Djokovic at 6-3, 7-6 (4) in a match well on track to the fifth set, after Djokovic won the third set 6-1 and led 5-2 in the fourth.
However, the Italian regrouped himself to force a tiebreak, and managed to convert his fourth match point to triumph in a tough battle lasting three hours and 26 minutes, becoming the first Italian man to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam in the past four decades.
In women's category, two American players managed to move through the quarterfinals.
No. 13 seed Keys eliminated Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 7-6 (5), 6-4, while 10th-seeded Stephens breezed past Russia's Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-1.
China's Yang Zhaoxuan and Chinese Taipei's Chan Hao-Ching secured their place in women's doubles semifinals following a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 victory over Romanian duo of Irina Bara and Mihaela Buzarnescu.
In junior division, second-seeded Wang Xinyu eased past Japanese teenager Uchijima Moyuka 6-2, 6-1. Fellow Chinese Zheng Qinwen joined Wang in girls' singles last 16 after beating Russia's Oksana Selekhmeteva 6-4, 6-4.
China's Wang Xiyu and Colombian partner Maria Camila Osorio Serrano also found their way through the girls' doubles first round.
