The match ended with Nadal winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), in 4 hours and 12 minutes.
The “Philippe Chatrier” stadium in the French capital, Paris, was the scene of the 59th confrontation between the players in general, and the tenth between them in the French championship.
Djoko leads with 30 wins, while Rafa excels on 29 occasions.
Nadal, who holds the record in Roland Garros with thirteen titles, is seeking to move forward despite suffering from the effects of injury and removing a title, to consolidate his position at the top of the ranking of players who have won the most titles in the Grand Slam with twenty-one titles.
“Rafa” avenged his loss in the semi-finals of last year’s edition once morest the Serbian, who only inflicted his third defeat in the history of his participation in Roland Garros.
Nadal will meet in the last four with German Alexander Zverev, the third in the world, who defeated the promising Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.
And the “Matador” consolidated its victories once morest Djokovic at Roland Garros to eight once morest two for the latter.
After the victory in front of the main court crowd, Philippe Chatrier, he said: “I am touched…it’s great to play here…thanks thanks thanks thanks for the support, it’s amazing for me. Everyone knows how important it is for me to play here. distinct”.
This was the first match between the two players since the semi-finals last year. Nadal had broken his partnership with Djokovic and Swiss Roger Federer in the number of grand slam titles, raising him to 21 to set the record, when he crowned at the beginning of the year in the Australian Open following the Serbian was denied the defense of his title following he was deported for not receiving a vaccine once morest the Corona virus.
“Novak is one of the best players in history, so playing once morest him is always a challenge given our history,” Nadal said following the win. “It was another challenge today and you have to play your best from the first point to the last.”
After the former French player Marion Bartoli, who interviewed him on the field, told him to continue the competitions following he repeated several times that each match he plays may be his last due to repeated injuries, he only said, “All I can say is that I will see you in two days.”
Djokovic was perhaps a more likely candidate to beat Nadal due to his recent level, as he did not lose in 22 successive sets in a series that began since the Rome session, which he crowned earlier this month, consolidating his record in the Masters sessions (38), before losing to Nadal today.
As for the Spaniard, he entered the match following he was forced once morest Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in the last eight to play a five-group match for only the third time in the history of his participation in Roland Garros.
And there was a deciding moment in the fourth set when Djokovic failed to translate two chances to settle it and drag the match into a decisive fifth set, so Nadal succeeded in imposing the tie-breaker and decided it in his favour.
