PARIS — Serena Williams' chest was heaving between points. Her footwork wasn't quite right. Miscue followed miscue, until she was a set and a break down in the French Open quarterfinals.

And as she so often does, Williams came through when she needed to, moving closer to a record-equaling 22nd Grand Slam title by figuring out a way to beat Yulia Putintseva, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1.

“I kept missing. Just misfiring. Honestly, at one point I didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel,” the defending champion said.

How close was she to her earliest exit at a major since Wimbledon in 2014? Putintseva, who is from Kazakhstan and ranked No. 60 in the world, twice was a point from serving for the biggest victory of her career.

“I honestly didn't think I was going to win that in the second set,” said Williams, who will face another unseeded opponent, 58th-ranked Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, in the semifinals. “Somehow I did.”

Yes, somehow, Williams overcame not only a relentless competitor in Putintseva but also her own shakiness on a cloudy, chilly day that included a brief rain delay.

“The rallies were very long and very tough. She is not used to [this] in matches,” said Williams' coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, who used to work with Putintseva. “She had to work much more today.”

There is no rest for the weary at this wet-as-can-be French Open. If Williams gets to Saturday's final, it will be her fourth consecutive day of play. The top-seeded man, Novak Djokovic, will reach that total — Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday — when he meets No. 13 Dominic Thiem in a semifinal.

“The way that the schedule has been going on in the second week,” Djokovic said, “[there] is not much time to really reflect on what you have done.”

The other men's semifinal is Andy Murray against defending champion Stan Wawrinka.

Djokovic beat Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5, 6-3, while Thiem eliminated David Goffin 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-1.