In a late-night thriller, Rafael Nadal beat long-time rival Novak Djokovic to reach the men's singles semi-finals at the French Open, inching towards his 14th title. The 35-year-old resisted defending champion Djokovic to win 6-2 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7-4) after an over four-hour battle on Roland Garros clay court.
The 21-time Grand Slam winner faces third seed Alexander Zverev of Germany in the semis on Friday. Zverev, 25, has reached the semi-finals for the second successiˀve year. He beat teen Carlos Alcaraz 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(7) earlier on Tuesday.
"To win against Novak there is only one way: to play your best from the first point to the last," Nadal was quoted as saying after the match.
With this victory, Nadal just avenged his 2021 semi-final defeat at the hands of Djokovic. This was his 110th win in 113 matches at Roland Garros.
This was Nadal’s 59th meeting with Djokovic and their head-to-head score now stands at 30-29.
"But it is just a quarter-final and I still have a semi-final to come. I will stay emotionally stable and get ready for the semi-final," he said.
Nadal has said this French Open could well be his last due to his chronic foot injury.
The World No. 5 was in fact considered an underdog as he headed into the quarterfinal, after taking five sets to win the previous match against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
And the colder and slower conditions of the night session were expected to favour defending champion Djokovic who was eager to win this title after missing the Australian Open as he was deported from the country over his Covid vaccination status.
But it's for a reason that Nadal is called the 'King of clay'. He smashed 57 winners, delighting the crowd as he avenged his French Open semi-final loss to the same opponent last year.