Spaniard Rafael Nadal, a 13-time champion, beat his Serbian opponent, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, at Roland Garros early Wednesday morning.
The Spanish Matador settled the 59th standoff that took him to Serbia to advance to the semi-finals of the second Grand Slam for the 15th time, beating him 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 ( 7/4).
Rafa avenged last year’s semi-final loss to Djokovic, who inflicted only his third defeat in Roland Garros history, while the Spaniard achieved his 29th head-to-head victory over the Serb. , after 4 hours and 12 minutes compared to Nova’s 30 wins.
Nadal will meet in the fourth round with the German Alexander Zverev, the third in the world, who defeated the promising Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.
The Matador sealed their victories over Djokovic at Roland Garros to eight against the latter’s two, including three in the finals.
It was the first match between the players since last year’s semi-final and Nadal ended his partnership with Djokovic and Roger Federer for most major titles, taking it to 21 to set a record when he crowned the Australian Open earlier in the year after being stripped of a Serb. title, after he was deported for not receiving a vaccine for the Corona virus.