Novak Djokovic defeats 13-time champion Rafael Nadal in ‘greatest’ French Open display

This is the first time Nadal has lost a semifinal

This is the first time Nadal has lost a semifinal at Roland Garros French Open campaign in the semifinals on Friday night.

Impossible Achieved 👊@DjokerNole becomes the first player in history to defeat Nadal in a Paris semi-final, besting the Spaniard 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-2 to reach the title match.#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/Cfy4178lSW

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 11, 2021

 This is the first time Nadal has lost a semi-finals at Roland Garros. Djokovic defeated the Spaniard 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2 and reached the final against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

 Djokovic will look for his second Roland Garros trophy and a 19th major title in the final on Sunday. After both players had taken one set each, they gave a master class in the third set that lasted 1 hour 33 minutes alone, with a curfew at 11 p.m. 

Today was Rafael Nadal’s 3rd career loss at the French Open or in a best-of-5 match on clay, with Novak Djokovic responsible for 2 of the 3 losses. Nadal’s other loss at the French Open came against Robin Soderling in the Round of 16 in 2009. pic.twitter.com/iJtvnhLbwI

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 11, 2021

The fans who stayed saw Novak Djokovic keep his nerve in the tiebreaker in the third set before Nadal broke in the first game of the fourth set and took the lead 2-0. The Spaniard couldn’t build on that, however, as Djokovic quickly completed the win and gave the Rey de Clay his third loss in 108 games at Roland Garros, two of which the Serb is responsible for.