French Open 2016 Highlights: Sam Strosur advances to semis, Novak Djokovic breaks prize money record, Andy Murray vs Stan Wawrinka [PHOTOS]

Former Grand Slam champion Sam Stosur moves forward to this year’s French Open semis at Roland-Garros after beating Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova with a final score of 6-4 7-6.

Stosur, who tasted a bitter defeat from Italian Francesca Schiavone in 2010, played to demonstrate on Wednesday that she learned from her experiences. While Pironkova put up a good fight with speedy serves and powerful strokes, Stosur retaliated by completely ignoring the scoreboard.

Sam Stosur vs Tsvetana Pironkova recap

The first set began with Pironkova showing Stosur and the crowd exactly how she pulled a surprise upset from Agnieszka Radwanska despite being a hundred ranks away. Pironkova hit with precise backhands to lead 3 points over Stosur. Just when it looked like the Bulgarian had taken control of the match, Stosur pulled herself out of the situation by scoring five consecutive points to take the first set from right under Pironkova.

“That was really hard to get out of that,” Stosur said, as reported by The Guardian. The point deficit that she was faced with so early in the match had been a heavy weight on Stosur. But after a quick and loud release, she began to loosen up.

By the time the match hit a tiebreaker in the second set, Pironkova’s offence began wearing down at the seams. She made more errors. On the other side of the Philippe-Chatrier Court, Stosur kept solid focus on her strokes until a final combination of an unyielding backhand drove Pironkova to the wings and a powerful forehand sent the tennis ball zooming to the opposite side. Pironkova simply could not catch up.

Serena Williams breezing through French Open 2016

Just as predicted, top seed Serena Williams didn’t disappoint. True to her form, Williams kept the match as short as possible, only giving away one game to Ukrainian Svitolina in each set (6-1 6-1).

The match had totally been in Williams’ hands since the start. Williams and Svitolina had faced each other three times before. Williams won every single encounter and this year’s match only added to that record.

Before Svitolina could retaliate with a perfect cross-court backhand, Williams had already warmed up making it impossible for Ukraine’s player to stop her from taking game after game. Williams shot with consistent power and speed. She has not dropped a set on her way to the French Open quarterfinals at Roland-Garros.

The same thing cannot be said for Venus Williams, who couldn’t steal a single set from number 8 Timea Bacsinszky.

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray racing for French Open title

Rain-delayed, the match between world number one Novak Djokovic and competitive Roberto Bautista Agut is finally over. Djokovic overpowered Bautista Agut 3-6 6-4 6-1 7-5.

The French Open title is the only thing missing in Djokovic’s career Grand Slam. The Serb’s triumph over the Spaniard is only a step closer to achieving that goal. The match had been intense given drenched state of the French Open and the repeated delay.

According to the ABC, Djokovic had to sit down with his coaching team and talk about what’s going to happen. Djokovic didn’t disappoint when he overcame the mental and physical strain from Monday and Tuesday in order to continue moving toward the title.

Not only was Djokovic victorious in his match against Bautista Agut, he was also declared as the first man to break the US$100 million (AU$138 million) mark for prize money.

Meanwhile, Djokovic’s rival Andy Murray is not far behind. Murray beat Richard Gasquet 5-7 7-6 6-0 6-2. His win led him to a match against defending champion Stan Wawrinka, who beat Albert Ramos Vinolas 6-2 6-1 7-6, for the French Open 2016 semifinals.