French Open semi finals updates: Casper Ruud v Marin Cilic

Casper Ruud books his place in his maiden Grand Slam final where he will meet the King of Clay Rafael Nadal for the first time. He recovers from a first-set setback to serve out the contest to love and claim a straight sets victory in two hours and 55 minutes.

He is also the first Norwegian man to make the final of Grand Slam singles event.

The last stand? Cilic has been second best for a long, long time in this match now but there’s still a tiny bit of fight left there. He unloads the forehand and then corks an ace down the T. Over to Ruud, who will now serve for a spot in the 2022 Roland-Garros final.

A 15th ace of the match is backed up by big first serves as Ruud eases to within a game of victory. He’s hit 38 winners to just 20 unforced errors in this match. Impressive stuff!

It’s the insurance break and Cilic’s hopes are fading faster and faster. He actually has the point on his racquet on more than one occasion but the unforced errors leak at an alarming rate. The Croatian saves one but then drills a loopy return straight into the net. Ruud is on the march!

That’s another down from Casper’s perspective. He motors through a rampant love hold and remains the red-hot favourite to reach Sunday’s final.

Talk about much-needed. Cilic breezes through a routine love hold to get on the board.

The feeling for most observers is that the winner of RG 22 would come from the top half of the men's draw. If Rafa’s foot can help him to play 8/10 tennis then they will probably be right. But if there is more of an issue for Nadal, then Ruud’s form since that first set suggests he could do some damage on Sunday (assuming he progeresses here). He’s playing some majestic clay-court tennis right now as he lands a delicious drop shot before rifling down an ace to consolidate to 15.

Boom! Ruud steps around a second serve and catches the baseline with a ferocious return winner. It steals an instant break and leaves Cilic with a mountain to climb.

There was a long delay in the French Open semi-final between Marin Cilic and Casper Ruud at Roland-Garros after a protester tied herself to the net.

Read our report and watch the video below.

Cilic pushes and probes for a break back. The Croatian produces the point of the game with a bewitching drop shot from deep but fails to make a break point count when he lashes a forehand wide into the tramlines. Ruud seizes upon the reprieve and a body serve helps him over the line on set point.

He’s turned this match around and is one set away from a maiden major final.

Rafael Nadal was posed a strange hypothetical question during his post-match press conference after reaching the final of the French Open on Friday.

Marin fires down a couple of big serves but fizzes an inch wide with a forehand he thinks has clinched a hold to 15. You do wonder if Ruud will use it to launch another recovery to break again but the No.8 seed lashes a whisker wide down the line. Casper will now serve for the set.

Ruud comes out rusty on serve and is immediately faced by two break points. However, the sudden threat focuses him sharply and he again plays clutch tennis to fend off both break points and sweep through from deuce. This set is surely done but will that time off court have helped Cilic to find some of the form that saw him play so brilliantly in the opener? He’ll need it if he's to make a match of this in Set 4.

The protestor has been removed and we will have a mini warm-up before getting back underway.

The players move away from the court as a protestor sits down by the net.

Updated: The players have now left the court until the situation is dealt with.