Xtra Time Web Desk: Top seed Novak Djokovic will meet Rafael Nadal in the final of the French Open this year. Djokovic defeated fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-2, 5-7, 4-6, 6-1 in their semifinal to reach the final at Roland Garros for the fifth time. Earlier Rafael Nadal got the better of Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 in three hours and nine minutes, to make it to his 13th final at Roland Garros.
Both Nadal and Djokovic have faced each other 55 times with the Serb leading 29–26. Djokovic leads 15–11 in finals. Of these matches, 15 have been in Grand Slams with Nadal leading 9–6. Nadal leads 6–1 at the French Open and 2–1 at the US Open, while Djokovic leads 2-0 at the Australian Open and 2–1 at Wimbledon.
The second seed Spaniard gets a chance to match Roger Federer’s record of 20 Grand Slam titles. Sunday’s final between Djokovic and Nadal will be their 56th meeting, the most between two men in the professional era (Djokovic leads 29-26), 16th at a major (Nadal leads 9-6) and eighth at the French Open (Nadal leads 6-1).
At 34 years and four months, Nadal became the third-oldest Roland Garros finalist in the Open era behind Andres Gimeno and Ken Rosewall, who achieved that 50 years ago. Rafa had to work hard against an in-form rival, opening a 6-3, 6-3, 4-2 advantage before starting to lose ground, surviving a challenging service game at 5-5 and sealing the deal after taking all seven tie break points to reach the final without losing a set.
In his 38th Major semi-final, Novak Djokovic prevailed over Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-2, 5-7, 4-6, 6-2 in three hours and 54 minutes for his 27th Major title match.
In the women’s final 21 year old American Sofia Kenin will take on 19 year Iga Swiatek from Poland on Saturday.