Stan Wawrinka quietly advances to French Open semifinals without dropping a set

Tennis players don’t make physical contact until they shake hands after the final point. But that doesn’t they can't inflict pain on the opponent.

👏👏👏 Victoire contre @cilic_marin et 3e demi-finale consécutive à RG pour @stanwawrinka
Third SF in a row for Stan Wawrinka! 💪 #RG17 pic.twitter.com/7o4Ium1OX5
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 7, 2017

Stan Wawrinka again brought his brutal, physical tennis to bear on Wednesday. Running his man from one corner to the other, pinning him deep behind the baseline, Wawrinka punished Marin Cilic, who is likely sitting dazedly in an ice bath as you read this. We’ve been talking for the last ten days about Rafael Nadal’s dizzyingly high level of play here. But Wawrinka isn’t far behind. He has yet to drop a set and he’s won 17 of his last 18 matches at Roland Garros. And you get the feeling he still has some more body blows to unload.

Snapshots from the French Open quarterfinals

French Open 2017 quarterfinals

Caroline Wozniacki

Timea Bacsinszky

Kristina Mladenovic

Timea Bacsinszky

Jelena Ostapenko

Rafael Nadal

Pablo Carreno Busta

Rafael Nadal

Dominic Thiem

Novak Djokovic

Dominic Thiem

Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem

Simona Halep

Caroline Garcia, Karolina Pliskova

Carolina Garcia

Karolina Pliskova

Elina Svitolina

Kei Nishikori

Stan Wawrinka

Marin Cilic

Andy Murray