Rafael Nadal wins 4-hour thriller against Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros

Rafael Nadal did something nobody expected him to by beating Novak Djokovic 6-2 4-6 6-2 7-6(4) booking the semifinal.

Nadal was considered a favourite at Roland Garros but with the way Djokovic stormed through Rome, many wondered if he would have enough for the Serbian. When he admitted that any match could be his last many wondered whether his foot is bothering him again. There is a good chance he is but he overcame everything once more to produce a superb effort to take out Djokovic.

Novak did not play on the level he played last year when he bested Nadal and it was clear from the start. Nadal cruised to a 6-2 first set as Djokovic struggled to keep up with Nadal. Too many misses and too few winners with his serve doing very little damage as well. That trend continued in the 2nd when Nadal went up 3-0 but Djokovic fought back to make it 4-3.

He won that set 64 making this a proper battle and it truly was. Nadal jumped out to an early lead in the 3rd set 2-0 and he never looked back. Novak was quite flat reverting back to missing quite a bit as Nadal cruised and dominated 6-2. The next set was a proper battle between the players as Novak applied early pressure on Nadal and jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

At 5-3, Djokovic was serving for the set creating two set points in that game but failed to convert either. Nadal broke back and the set concluded in the tiebreak. Nadal went up 3-0 and 6-1 closing it out with 7-4. A superb effort behind 56 winners and only 43 errors. Djokovic had 48 and 53 and that was not good enough.