The Argentine managed to recover in time for the French Open and entered the tournament as the fifth seed. Following victories against French players Nicolas Mahut and Julien Benneteau, he defeated 31st seed Albert Ramos Viñolas and World N°10 John Isner en route to a quarterfinal clash against World N°4 and frequent rival Marin Cilic. After an intense match (in which he had a heated argument with a fan that supposedly heckled him), Del Potro defeated Cilic in four sets and reached the semifinals, his best performance at Roland Garros since 2009. He then lost to Rafael Nadal in straight sets. His run to the semifinals ensured that, for the first time since February 2014, Delpo would return to his career-best ranking of World No. 4.