11 June,2021 07:10 AM IST | Paris | AFP
Rafael Nadal. Pic/AP, PTI; (right) Novak Djokovic. Pic/AFP
Novak Djokovic has said facing Rafael Nadal for the 58th time on Friday, with a place in the French Open final on the line, will be "a great battle" against his "biggest ever rival".
Djokovic secured the eagerly-awaited clash when he reached his 40th Grand Slam semi-final with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5 win over Italy's Matteo Berrettini.
It will be his 11th appearance in the last-four in Paris where he was champion in 2016. Nadal, the 13-time winner, beat Argentina's Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 to make the semi-finals for the 14th time.
"I'll probably pick Rafa as the biggest rival I've ever had in my career," said World No. 1 Djokovic. "The anticipation for the match against him, any match, any surface, any occasion, is always different from any other. Let's have a great battle."
Although Djokovic has the edge at 29-28 in their overall rivalry stretching back 15 years, Nadal enjoys a 7-1 record in their French Open meetings and is 19-7 overall on clay. Djokovic's last win over the Spanish star on a clay court was in Rome five years ago.
Nadal's record in Paris now stands at 105 wins against just two losses. One of those defeats, however, was at the hands of Djokovic in 2015.
With Djokovic's quarter-final extending beyond the national 11pm curfew, play was halted for around 20 minutes at 3-2 in the fourth set so that 5,000 fans could be funnelled out of Court Philippe Chatrier.
Djokovic eventually claimed the match on a third match point in the 12th game but only after he kicked out at an advertising board in frustration at missing the first two.
His scream into the humid night air told of his relief as his bid to win a 19th Grand Slam and be the first man in more than 50 years to claim all four majors twice stayed on course. "It was a release of all the emotions I had kept inside me," said Djokovic.
"After all the fans left and the little break, it wasn't easy to find rhythm. It was really a very difficult match for me."
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29-28
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10-6
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7-1
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