Novak Djokovic trolls crowd member in ongoing French Open drama

Novak Djokovic's running battle with the French crowd has continued in his quarter-final having blown a fan a kiss after being heckled throughout his victory. The World No.3 has finally set up a clash with Carlos Alcaraz in a grand slam with the pair set to meet in the final four showdown after the Serbian came back to defeat Karen khachanov 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Djokovic has been working his way back into form having endured a tough build-up to Paris. And the 22-time grand slam champion has timed his run to perfection once again as he played some of his best tennis on clay to advance past the dangerous Russian.

'CHEATING': Holger Rune called out over shocking French Open farce

WOW: French Open uproar as doubles pair defaulted over ball girl incident

However, Djokovic's continued battle with the fickle French crowd once again emerged. The Parisian locals have been vocal this grand slam with a number of players hitting out at the treatment on court.

Taylor Fritz was seen attempting to silence the crowd, Daniil Medvedev mocked them, while Djokovic in his previous match was booed. And the 36-year-old was once again targeted during the quarter-final match.

However, this time, Djokovic had the last laugh. Djokovic was playing some of his best tennis in the fourth set when he made a superb approach shot winner.

One fan had clearly been heckling Djokovic in an attempt to get a reaction like his previous match. Instead, Djokovic turned and pointed to the supporter after the winner. He then blew the spectator a kiss much to the delight of tennis great John McEnroe.

"Novak’s like, ‘thank you for yelling at me!’" McEnroe said in delight after the point. "The crowd is starting to get on him. Khachanov is getting frustrated, he’s screaming over, 'how does this guy keep hitting [the] lines?’"

Fans acknowledged Djokovic's cheeky reaction and praised the Serbian for turning the crowd around after two difficult matches. The Philippe-Chatrier crowd applauded Djokovic for his splendid level of tennis in stark contrast to his last match.

After the match, Djokovic admitted that the second set was pivotal in how the clash played out. "Winning or losing the second set would be quite a big difference, but yeah probably two different matches in one," he said in his post-match press conference.

"The first couple of sets were probably the worst two sets I've played so far in the tournament. Then the third and fourth were quite good. I held my nerves in the second set, I played the perfect tiebreak."

Novak Djokovic sets up Carlos Alcaraz clash

The win means he has finally set up a grand slam clash against Alcaraz. The World No.1 Spaniard has been in imperious form so far in Paris and proved it after obliterating fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets.

Alcaraz left the tennis world stunned with his performance and was seeing the match-up against Djokovic as a chance to prove himself against the 22-time grand slam champion as he builds his own legacy.

"This match is what everyone wanted to watch and it is going to be a really good match to play and to watch," Alcaraz said of Friday's semi-final after seeing off Tsitsipas with relative ease. "If you want to be the best you have to beat the best and (Djokovic) is one of the best players in the world."

The last time Alcaraz and Djokovic played each other was at last year's Madrid Open, which Alcaraz won on his way to the title.

Sign up to our newsletter and score the biggest sport stories of the week.