Djokovic ends Nadal era at Roland Garros
It was billed as the match of the tournament: top seed and world number one Novak Djokovic against the nine-times winner, the defending champion Rafael Nadal. At the start of the first set it appeared the claim was overblown. Djokovic raced into a 4-0 lead within 17 minutes.
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But then Nadal gritted his teeth and came back. Perhaps the expected epic was about to unfold. But just as a tie-break loomed for the first set, Nadal lost his service and the set 7-5.
Djokovic, attempting to beat Nadal for the first time in seven attempts at Roland Garros, looked the more assured on his service games and appeared more able to ruffle the Spaniard who was celebrating his 29th birthday. The break for the Serb came when he was 4-3 up in the second set. He served out for a two-set lead after one hour and 54 minutes.
When Djokovic broke Nadal at the start of the third, the crowd sensed that the end of the match was approaching. When he took the Spaniard’s second service game, they knew it was the end of an era.
Although Nadal eventually got on the board to make it 4-1, he wasn’t allowed to repeat his first-set heroics. Djokovic was swift to take it to 5-1. And then it was just a case of whether Djokovic would have to serve for the match. He didn’t.
After only his second defeat at the tournament, Nadal dismissed the hyperbole “I don't like to talk about dynasty and these kind of things. I have been very successful here for nine years out of 11,” he said. “Everybody loses in every place. I haven’t lost many times here but that day has arrived again.”
His extraordinary sequence of four titles between 2005 and 2008 was followed by another five between 2010 and 2014. He has won the most Roland Garros titles of all time but remains philosophical about the feat. “I don't know if I’m going to win 10 but nine I’ve already won. The only thing that is sure is I won nine times.”
He added: “I’m going to come back next year and I’m going to try to be competitive, to try to be better prepared than this year and try to arrive with a little bit more good confidence.”
That was the missing ingredient between the two rivals. Djokovic had the puff of a man in form.
And why not? He is the undisputed world number one and has claimed five titles this season, including the first grand slam tournament of the year at the Australian Open. Crowns at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Rome have also been added to the groaning mantelpiece.
Triumph over Nadal narrows their head to head statistics. Djokovic has beaten him 21 times, while Nadal has won 23 of their encounters. The quarter-final was the first time he had won at Roland Garros.
“It's definitely a big win, a match that I will remember for a long time,” said Djokovic. Now firmly established as favourite for the only grand slam championship to have eluded him, Djokovic will turn his focus on how to conquer Andy Murray.
The British third seed will be his opponent in the semi-final after absorbing and eventually neutering the perpetual vigour that is the Spanish seventh seed David Ferrer.
It was 76 62 57 61. Murray, who is into his third semi-final at the French Open, is enjoying his best season on clay. He won his first clay court title at the Munich Open in April and the claimed the Madrid Masters at the expense of Nadal last month. He says he has no reason to doubt his abilities on the surface.
“I feel that to put yourself in position to win against the best players in the world, it's not just about one day before the match," he explained. "It's about what you do in the whole of the build-up to it.
“And going into the match having not lost on clay this year and having some big wins on the surface is important for me. I will just keep doing what I have been doing: have a good practice and come up with a good game plan.”
The line up of top seed against third seed has an element of order about it. Nothing quite as traditional emerged from the top half of the women’s draw after Wednesday’s quarter-finals.
Top seed Serena Williams will play the 23rd seed Timea Bacsinszky for a place in Saturday’s final.
The 33-year-old American used the quarter-final against Sara Errani to remember who she was and why she was world number one.
She pulverised the Italian in the first set, taking it 6-1. There was a bit more resistance in the second set. But it was futile. The 17th seed succumbed 6-3.
“Well I knew what I wanted to do,” said Errani after the 66-minute match. “But I couldn't do what I wanted. I played too short and in the middle. I wanted to move the ball around more but today I couldn't. So I didn't play my best match, for sure.”
Williams conceded that she was lucky to be at this stage of the competition. She had to come from a set down to win her second, third and fourth-round matches. As winner of 19 grand slam singles titles, she will be the favourite against the 25-year-old Swiss who will contest her first grand slam semi-final.
The pair played in the last eight at the Indian Wells tournament in March. Williams won in straight sets but recalls a battle.
“She's a major fighter,” said Williams. “You can have a match point, be up a set and she's not going to give up. She's had a really good year. It's not going to be an easy match at all for me.”
Bacsinszky showed her prowess coming from a set down in the fourth round to overcome the Czech fourth seed Petra Kvitova.
She was equally doughty as she edged past the unseeded Belgian Alison van Uytvanck 64 75. A chance of a place in a grand slam final is, she admits, not an everyday occurrence. But she said she would grasp her opportunity.
“It’s always the same when I step on the court," she said. "I always try to win the next point. For me, it doesn't matter who I'm playing against. I just want to have a couple of tactics and try to put them in the game. If it happens to work, then I'm really happy. If it doesn't work, then it's easy. You go back and you work and you try to be stronger for the next match.”
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