The king is dethroned. Djokovic ends Nadal’s Roland Garros run

World number one Novak Djokovic trumped defending champion Rafael Nadal in the semifinal of Roland Garros 2021 at Court Philippe-Chatrier on Friday. Djokovic won the match 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2 after 4 hours and 11 minutes. The Serbian will face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final on Sunday.

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Djokovic won the third set in a tie-breaker after an hour and 32 minutes. In what was a roller-coaster of a set, Djokovic broke twice but Nadal broke back as many times. Djokovic held the nerve in the tie-breaker to win it by 7-4. 

There was an exchange of service breaks early in the second set. But Djokovic broke again in the sixth set to restore a two-game cushion. In the following games, neither player dropped serves, and eventually, the world number one took the second set by a scoreline of 6-3.

Nadal was rampant in the first set, making Djokovic work for every point, without providing any freebie. He won the first five games. Djokovic provided some resistance in the following three games, winning a break and two service games. But it was too little too late for the Serbian in set 1.  Nadal wins the set 6-3 as the clock ticks the one-hour mark. 

Statistics:

(Djokovic-Nadal)

Aces: 4-6

Double faults: 3-8

Break points won: 8/22 – 6/16

Unforced errors: 37-55

Total points won: 142-124

Also read | French Open: Top matches from tennis’ eternal rivalry-Djokovic vs Nadal

Earlier, Nadal, the 13-time French Open champion, beat Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 to make the semi-finals in the major for the 14th time.

Djokovic reached his 40th Grand Slam semifinal after he defeated Italy’s Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (7), 7-5. This is Serbian’s 11th semifinal in the French Open.