(SATSports) – It was an incredible night for Novak Djokovic who won 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2 to become the only man to beat Rafael Nadal twice at Roland Garros and book his place in Sunday’s final.
The two, who met for the 58th time came out guns blazing to give what could be termed the best tennis match of the season so far, which even prompted authorities to allow the fans to w]finish up the match despite national curfew being exceeded.
Djokovic got up to a rocky start in the first set, finding himself broken twice and trailing 5-0 while struggling to find any sort of fluency. Despite making a three game comeback with saved set points, Nadal would go on to convert the set points in the ninth game and many would think it’s gonna be one way traffic from then on.
The world number one would carried the momentum from the first set to claim an early break in the second but Rafa just wouldn’t back down, breaking back to get the set back on serve. The Serbian broke back to take a 4-2 lead as they went toe to toe from the back court and him dominating with heavy hitting and a bag of dropshots. Rafa would surrender break back points which allowed the top ranked player to take the set and send the fans roaring in excitement of what they were witnessing.
The third set was full of back and forth tennis, exchange of breaks with both players opening new chapters in their off the coaching books tennis. Noleshowing why he’s the world’s best and Rafa the king of clay, the match went into a tie breaker.
Off to a good start was Djokovic with a mini break on the first point nut again Nadal would come right back into the set to level things up. At 3-4, Nadal misses a volley on almost open court to surrender a two pointlead and Nole would put salt in the wounds by ripping an ace and securing the set on the next point. The third set alone needed 1 hour 32 minutes to get a winner, exceeding the national curfew in France but to the delight of many fans, it was announced that they were allowed to stay until it was over.
The thirteen time champion, Nadal got an early break in the fourth and sealed it with a hold of his own serve but he seemed to have run out of answers since as Novak bounced back yet again to win six brutal games in a row, winning the match and putting an end to Nadal’s quest for a record 21st grand slam title. Djokovic also broke Nadal’s impressive 13-0 winning streak in the semi-finals.
Novak Djokovic will be looking for his 18th major and up next for the world number 1 is Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat Sascha Zverev in five sets to make his way into a first grand slam final. The two have met seven times and Nole dominates the head to head 5-2
