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Novak Djokovic flirts with disqualification, advances to French Open semis

Novak Djokovic cruised to an easy straight-set victory in Thursday’s French Open quarterfinals, but still came within inches of seeing his title hopes dashed.

The world No. 1 became frustrated in the third set of his match against Tomas Berdych and angrily threw his racquet down. The racquet then bounced off the clay and went flying backward, narrowly missing a line judge.

Had the line judge not stepped out of the way just in time, Djokovic could have faced disqualification for the incident. Instead, he got away with a code violation and earned a 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 win.

Djokovic became agitated when reporters asked about the incident after the match.

“I threw a racquet on the ground and it slipped and almost hit the line umpire,” he said. “I was lucky there. That’s all.”

Djokovic will go up against 13th-seeded Dominic Thiem in Friday’s semifinal.