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After Novak Djokovic defeated Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, eleven years younger and ranked sixth, on Friday night, he already became Rafael Nadal’s runner-up opponent in the final.
But the road was not easy for Djokovic.
Djokovic looked to go for victory in three straight sets. But after two straight sets wins for the Serbian (6-3, 6-2), Tsitsipa won the third at 7-5 and led the match to a fourth set after two hours and 24 minutes of play.
In the fourth set, Tsitsipas surprised the world team by directly winning the first two commons. Djokovic caught up with him, but the 22-year-old didn’t give up and won the fourth set 6-4.
But then Djokovic became too difficult for Tsitsipas and the world team won the final set 6-1.
– I stayed focused, even though I lost the third and fourth sets. Although he returned, I remained in control. I realized that I was more alert than he was and I put another gear. I managed to finish well, Djokovic said on the Eurosport broadcast after the match.
Rafael Nadal got an easy ride in their semi-final on Friday. The Spanish defeated Argentine Diego Schwartzman in three straight sets (6-3, 6-3, 7-6). Nadal, who has won all twelve finals he has played so far in Paris, played masterful tennis at Philippe Chatrier Court and broke Schwartzman’s serve early in the three sets.
However, the Argentine challenged Nadal in the third set and the Spaniard looked shocked. However, the world’s number two managed to fix it. He took home the tiebreaker game, 7-0.
– I’m in the final, I haven’t lost a set, but there are other times I felt better at Roland Garros. The conditions are not perfect for the way I play, it means a lot that I came here, Nadal said after the game.
