Rafael Nadal has won the 59th installment of his legendary rivalry against Novak Djokovic, advancing to the Roland Garros semi-finals with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4) victory in a match that began Tuesday night and finished after 1 a.m Wednesday morning in Paris.

The Spaniard led by a set and a double break before Djokovic stormed back to level, but Nadal reasserted himself with a dominant third set. It was the World No. 1 who started strongest in the fourth, but Nadal saved two set points to deny his attempt to serve out the set and force a decider. Three days ahead of his 36th birthday, Nadal powered to victory in a one-sided tie-break.

“It has been a very emotional night for me. I’m still playing for nights like today,” Nadal said in his post-match press conference. “But it’s just a quarter-final match, no? So I didn’t win anything. So I just [need to] give myself a chance to be back on court in two days, play another semifinals here in Roland Garros. [It] means a lot to me.”

Nadal gains a measure of revenge after his semi-final loss one year ago at Roland Garros — the most recent meeting between the pair. By ending Djokovic’s title defence, Nadal moves within two victories of a record-extending 14th Roland Garros title and 22nd major crown. Had Djokovic advanced, he would have had a golden opportunity to tie Nadal by winning his 21st Grand Slam title.

Nadal is now guaranteed to remain the leader of the Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin after Paris, priming himself for a shot at finishing year-end World No. 1. The victory also lifts the left-hander ahead of Stefanos Tsitsipas to No. 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

“He showed why he’s a great champion,” Djokovic said in press. “Staying there mentally tough and finishing the match the way he did. Congrats to him and his team. No doubt he deserved it.”

🤩 What a set! What a comeback! 🤩

🤔 Is 14 next for @RafaelNadal ?#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/0Wa4mjZoau

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 31, 2022

Nadal improved to 29-30 in this ATP Head2Head series by breaking serve seven times on 17 chances, including twice in each of the first three sets. He saved eight of the 12 break points he faced.

The Spaniard has now won consecutive matches of four-plus hours. After defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime on Sunday after four hours and 20 minutes, he moved past Djokovic in four hours and 11 minutes. Nadal entered the tournament under a cloud of doubt due to his chronic foot injury and played just two clay events prior to Roland Garros after a six-week layoff due to a rib fracture. But he looked as fit as ever as he improved to 15-1 in the Roland Garros quarter-finals. 

After two days of rest, Nadal will face Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals after the third-seeded German knocked off Carlos Alcaraz earlier on Tuesday.

Djokovic entered the quarter-final on a nine match win streak, winning 22 straight sets dating back to his ATP Masters 1000 triumph in Rome. He was also on an 11-match win streak at Roland Garros, matching his longest run in Paris (2016-17).

While Nadal and Djokovic are familiar foes — especially at Roland Garros, where Nadal now holds an 8-2 head-to-head edge — their quarter-final is also a match of historic firsts: It is the first time in the Open era that a men’s match has featured two men with at least 20 Grand Slam wins, 1,000 match wins or 300 Grand Slam match wins.

“Of course we have a lot of history together,” Nadal added. “A lot of important moments playing against each other. That’s the truth. In that case, [it] always is a special match, playing against Novak.

“Tonight [was] just a quarter-final match, not the final… But still a super classic match and in a big scenario. Between Novak, Roger [Federer], myself — we have an amazing story together facing each other in the most important matches for such a long time. So that makes things more special and more emotional.”

First Set

Nadal and Djokovic both put on a show in the opening set of their Roland Garros quarter-final, but Nadal struck the first heavy blows to win it, 6-2. While the scoreline was one-sided, the majority of the rallies were enthralling back-and-forth affairs with both men battling for supremacy in a high-octane chess match from the baseline.

The Spaniard broke serve in a 10-minute opening game to take the early initiative, then saved a pair of break points to hold for 3-1 before blitzing through the rest of the set. Djokovic employed several drop shots to varying success, while Nadal attacked the net nine times, winning four of those points.

Nadal was sharp from the first ball and finished with a 12-6 winners-to-errors count, while Djokovic was a minus-1 by that measure, hitting eight winners and nine errors.

Second Set

Djokovic battled back from a double break down, winning six of the last seven games in a thrilling 6-4 set. 

Just as in the opening set, Nadal began set two with a crucial break of serve in a titanic opening game. After Djokovic survived for more than 13 minutes, Nadal took his seventh break point of the game to wrestle control of the match. Djokovic did not have a game point.

Nadal’s forehand was was at its buggy-whip best, and Djokovic began to press as he lost touch with the Spaniard. The Serbian found himself a double break down at 3-0 when Nadal bunted a winner after chasing down another drop shot.

But Djokovic stepped up the aggression to claw back to 3-3, drawing errors from Nadal for the first time in the match as he began to dictate off his own forehand wing. He won his fifth break point of a seven-deuce game to draw level, then fought off a break point to hold for 4-3 across four deuces. Those two crucial games following the 3-2 changeover lasted nearly 29 minutes.

With Nadal serving at 4-5, Djokovic dialled in with a slew of deep returns and broke for the third time in four return games to draw level after two hours and 18 minutes. The second set alone lasted one hour and 28 minutes.

The opening two sets mirror the start of their 2021 semi-final, when Nadal took a 6-3 opener before Djokovic answered with a 6-3 second. That set the stage for an all-time-classic third set, which Djokovic won in a tie-break. The Serbian’s four-set comeback was the first time since 2014 in this rivalry that the player losing the first set came back to win.

Third Set

Three sets, three instant breaks for Nadal. And for the second straight set, he claimed an early double-break advantage behind blistering baseline play. This time, it proved to be more than enough as he closed with no trouble, wrapping up the set just after midnight. 

The 6-2 set gave the Spaniard a two-sets-to-one lead and dispelled any thoughts of lingering fatigue following his five-set triumph over Felix Auger-Aliassime on Sunday. After Nadal fought off a break point to hold for 3-1, he secured his second break — his sixth of the match — and never gave Djokovic a chance to tighten the score.

The Serbian, after attacking with such consistency in his second-set comeback, made 16 unforced errors to seven winners in the set. Nadal, who has had a positive ratio in all three sets, hit eight winners and six errors in the third.

Fourth Set

Nadal claimed victory by winning the 19th tie-break contested by the pair, improving his record to 10-9 in tie-break sets against the Serbian.

The Spaniard surrendered an early break in the set and trailed 3-5 as Djokovic stepped up to serve for the set. But after not creating a break point in the set, the Spaniard erased two set points to make his breakthrough. It took nine minutes before Nadal converted on his second break chance of the game to stay alive in the set. 

Djokovic had saved 14 of 17 break points entering the match, but faced 17 against Nadal alone, saving 10. The Spaniard saved eight of the 12 break points he faced in the quarter-final. 

With the momentum firmly on his side, Nadal raced to a 6-1 lead in the tie-break and ultimately closed it out on his fourth match point.

Giants of the game. #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/cExSy3z6H4

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 31, 2022

Djokovic briefly stemmed the tide early in the set to hold off a trademark Chatrier charge from Nadal, but could not hold off the final wave of brilliance from his opponent. The Serbian made a fast start to the fourth, in sharp contrast to the previous three sets. For the first time in the match, he held his opening service game. Djokovic was able to pull Nadal around the baseline with regularity in the early stages of the set, and he capitalised on an early break point on the way to a 3-0 lead.

Even as Nadal stayed in rallies with bewildering squash shots, Djokovic held his nerve and pushed his lead to 5-2. But once Nadal clawed the break back, he commanded the close of the match to emerge a deserving winner.

Leading by two sets to one and with a chance to clinch his quarter-final clash at Roland Garros with Carlos Alcaraz in the fourth-set tie-break, Alexander Zverev decided to gamble.

“It is one shot that I like to do,” said Zverev in his post-match press conference when asked about the backhand down-the-line return winner that sealed his 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(7) victory on Tuesday. “I have done it a lot in my career.

“I had to win the match myself. I feel like you’re either going to miss it by a country mile or going to hit a winner. So, I hit a winner, which I’m quite pleased about.”

The final point was a microcosm of Zverev’s approach to the match. The third seed seemed intent on dictating play from the start on Court Philippe Chatrier, where aggressive serving and groundstrokes powered him to a two-set lead over the Spaniard. Zverev believes that mindset was crucial in securing his maiden win over a Top 10 opponent at a Grand Slam.

“I think Carlos is one of the best players in the world right now. It seems quite impossible to beat him. But I knew that I had to play my absolute best from the first point on.

“Letting him go ahead in the match, letting him get the confidence was going to be a very difficult thing for me to come back from. In the end I’m happy that I won in four sets and didn’t have to go to a fifth set.”

As he moves within two matches of a maiden Grand Slam crown in Paris, Zverev acknowledged his expectations have changed when it comes to big matches at the majors.

“At the end of the day, I’m not 20 or 21 years old anymore,” said Zverev. “I’m 25. I am at the stage where I want to win, I’m at the stage where I’m supposed to win, as well.

“We still have the best players in the world playing with Novak [Djokovic], Rafa [Nadal], and Roger [Federer] is coming back. Then you have the new generation, but I think our generation is very strong as well. We have [Stefanos] Tsitsipas, [Daniil] Medvedev who is a US Open champion. I won big events like the Olympics, as well.”

The sort of resilience he showed in withstanding a strong Alcaraz fightback will be key for Zverev if he wants to progress further at the clay-court Grand Slam, where he faces World No. 1 Novak Djokovic or 13-time champion Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals. No matter who his opponent is, the German hopes that Tuesday’s performance will stand him in good stead.

“There is a reason why they are the best in the world at Grand Slams,” said Zverev. “One [Nadal] has 21, the other one [Djokovic] has 20. They have been top of the game for the past 15, 20 years, and there is a big reason for that.

“Yes, I have not beaten them in majors, but I feel like I was very close. I feel like I have had very difficult and tough matches against them…But there is a big difference between having a tough match and beating them.

“Hopefully I can manage and take this win today and put it on the court on Friday.”

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros for the first time together on Tuesday, overcoming sixth seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The Spanish-Argentine pair has won six tour-level titles as a team, including four ATP Masters 1000 crowns. However, they are searching for a maiden Grand Slam trophy in Paris this week.

In a hard-fought performance, the fourth seeds converted both break points they had to advance after one hour and 55 minutes. Koolhof and Skupski have been the standout pair on the ATP Tour in 2022. They have won a Tour-leading four titles this season and are currently No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Teams Rankings.

Granollers and Zeballos will next play Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek. The Croatian-American tandem came back from the brink, edging Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 3-6, 7-6(9), 7-6(10).

Dodig and Krajicek saved one match point in the second set and then a further four match points in the decider to upset the top seeds in two hours and 36 minutes.

The unseeded tandem are competing together for the fourth time this season and arrived in Paris in form. They captured the trophy in Lyon earlier this month and have now won their past eight matches.

Carlos Alcaraz said that he is looking to take the positives from his Roland Garros quarter-final defeat to Alexander Zverev on Tuesday as he aims to use the experience as a learning curve.

The 19-year-old Spaniard entered the clash against the German on a 14-match winning streak, but was unable to cope with the World No. 3’s heavy-hitting, falling in four sets on Court Philippe Chatrier.

“I have to take the lessons [from] today. It was a tough match and close match,” Alcaraz said in his post-match press conference. “I could say I didn’t start well, and in this level, quarter-final of a Grand Slam, you are playing against the best players in the world, so you have to start the match better than I did today.

“I have to improve for the next Grand Slam or next matches. But I would say I’m not far away from reaching a semi-final or being able to win a Grand Slam… I would say I have the level, I have the confidence to win a Grand Slam or reach the semi-finals next time.”

Alcaraz has enjoyed a standout 2022 season, capturing a Tour-leading four titles, including ATP Masters 1000s crowns in Miami and Madrid. The 19-year-old, who is 32-3 on the year, is currently No. 6 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

While Zverev produced the better level in the key moments against Alcaraz in a rematch from their Madrid final on Tuesday, the Spaniard gave another impressive account of himself in what was just his second appearance in Paris.

“I leave the court and leave the tournament with the head very high,” Alcaraz said. “I fought until the last ball. I fought until the last second of the match, and I’m proud of it.”

After winning a dramatic third set to gain a foothold in the match, Alcaraz was then edged in a fourth-set tie-break. While the five-time tour-level titlist was disappointed that he could not force a decider, he felt encouraged by many aspects of his game.

“I am going try to take the positive things of the match, and of course the bad things that I did, to improve to the next matches or next tournaments or next Grand Slams,” Alcaraz added. “I was close to a good match, close to a fifth set, and in the fifth set everything could happen. I’m going to take a lesson from this match.

“This was my second quarter-final at a Grand Slam and I think I fought until the last ball. I hope the next Grand Slam, next quarter-final that I will play at a Grand Slam, I will do better and [improve] my chances to reach the semi-finals.”

Despite falling short, Alcaraz revealed that he thoroughly enjoyed competing in the French capital, where he was backed by a vocal crowd throughout.

“I enjoyed [it] a lot, even [though] I lost,” Alcaraz said. “Playing in front of such a great crowd, playing in these kinds of tournaments, on this kind of court, is amazing for me… That’s why I’m training, that’s why I’m playing tennis, to keep dreaming, to have chances to be in the best tournaments in the world.

“Of course I couldn’t be disappointed with this crowd or I couldn’t ask for a better crowd in here, in Paris supporting me, until the last ball supporting me, from the beginning to the end of the match. I just say thank you to the crowd.”