Novak Djokovic vs. Tomas Berdych: Score and Reaction from 2016 French Open

Top-seeded Novak Djokovic cruised into the 2016 French Open semifinals Thursday with a routine 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 quarterfinal victory over seventh-seed Tomas Berdych at Roland Garros. 

With the win, the 11-time Grand Slam champion reached his 30th career Grand Slam semifinal and came one step closer to finally completing the career slam.

Berdych entered the tilt on a 10-match losing streak to Djoker, having lost nine consecutive sets to him. As seen in this graphic courtesy of We Are Tennis, every stat pointed toward the world No. 1 advancing:

Things were fairly even in the early going as Nole and Berdych traded holds of serve, but as pointed out by Live Tennis, the Czech's aggressive nature was potentially setting him up for failure:

"

#Berdych going for his shots, but missing too many. 2-2.

The longer he takes, the less likely he'll break... pic.twitter.com/lbH2r3Deeh

— Live Tennis (@livetennis) June 2, 2016"

That came to pass when Djokovic scored the first break of the match at 3-3 in the first set, which seemed to open the floodgates, as it was all Djoker from that point forward in the opening set.

Djokovic held serve and closed out the set by breaking Berdych once again, as he moved his opponent all over the court by virtue of his spectacular shot placement, as seen in this video of set point via Roland Garros on Twitter:

Momentum was firmly on the Serb's side after the manner in which the first set ended, and he continued to roll early in the second by winning each of the first three games.

SI.com's Carole Bouchard believed at the time that Nole was displaying his best form of the tournament:

Djokovic was having his way with Berdych, and he appeared poised to ease his way into the third set thanks to points such as the following:

Tom Perrotta of the Wall Street Journal added that Djoker seemed to be turning up his level of play after having some momentary lapses in the matches leading up to Thursday's affair:

Those struggles began to present themselves once again with Djokovic leading 4-2, as Berdych held on for his first break of the match. He then quickly consolidated with a hold of serve to even things up at 4-4 in the second.

Berdych had a chance to force a tiebreak serving at 5-6, but Nole flipped the switch as he so often does in big moments and dominated to break his underdog opponent at love, which gave him a 2-0 advantage in sets:

Despite having momentum firmly on his side, Djokovic was then broken in the first game of the third set, which immediately put a straight-sets triumph in jeopardy.

Nole clearly felt the pressure to break back right away, as frustration got the better of him when he threw his racket and nearly hit a line judge.

As pointed out by Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times, Djokovic was fortunate that didn't happen:

Djokovic managed to get the break even after his momentary lapse in judgment, but the weather started to worsen shortly thereafter.

Discussions began regarding potentially suspending play, which angered Berdych, according to Nick McCarvel of USA Today:

Officials decided to halt the match with the score tied 3-3 in the third set, and the No. 7 seed made it clear that he was upset with the ruling:

The suspension lasted only a few minutes before the players were called back to the court, and Berdych's frustration may have gotten the best of him.

After holding serve to go up 4-3, Nole broke Berdych and then quickly closed the match out on serve to send his opponent packing.

While Thursday's match wasn't without a few tense moments, it was perhaps Djoker's best performance of the tournament from start to finish against a quality adversary.

His victory sets the stage for a semifinal clash against No. 13 Dominic Thiem Dominic Thiem. While the 22-year-old Austrian is among the fastest-rising stars in men's tennis, Djokovic promises to be a substantial favorite to reach his third consecutive French Open final.

He would then face either Andy Murray or defending French Open champion Stan Wawrinka in the final.

The French Open is the one major tournament title missing from Djokovic's trophy case, and although he is once again the favorite, big challenges still lie ahead.

Djoker still must refine and improve his game even more in the semis, and if he is able to do that, then he will put himself in position to beat Murray or Wawrinka in the final and manufacture his best chance yet to reign supreme on the Roland Garros clay.

Post-Match Reaction

Following his straight-sets victory, Djokovic discussed his strategy and why he was seemingly able to dictate play against Berdych, according to Dan Imhoff of RolandGarros.com:

"

Especially in these conditions it's good to have [a drop shot] in your game. Particularly when I play a player like Tomas that is not as great of a mover maybe as somebody else around the court, forward, backwards, and so I tried to expose his movement and his weaknesses. When the court is wet, when the conditions are slow, of course it does work better than when it's not.

"

Djoker also touched on the racket-throwing incident and acknowledged that he was lucky it didn't hit anyone, per BBC Tennis:

Berdych continued to express his displeasure with the manner in which the weather situation was handled by officials:

Djokovic was the superior player Thursday regardless of whether the flow of the match was disrupted, and while Berdych had his chances to make things interesting, he was never able to cash in.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.