Novak Djokovic handed nine-times champion Rafa Nadal his second defeat in 11 years at Roland Garros to reach the semi-finals of the French Open with a devastating and thoroughly one-sided 7-5 6-3 6-1 win yesterday.
The world number one from Serbia, looking to win the only grand slam missing from his collection, will take on British third seed Andy Murray who beat Spain’s David Ferrer 7-6 6-2 5-7 6-1, for a place in the final.
Nadal’s only previous defeat came in 2009 when the Mallorcan was knocked out in the fourth round by Swede Robin Soderling.
“He is still a champion,” Djokovic, who celebrated calmly, told a courtside interviewer in French.
“The tactic was to be aggressive and focused on every point, but it is not easy to do when you play against Rafa here.”
While the scoreline was crushing, the result was not the seismic shock that it was six years ago when the unthinkable happened and Nadal lost to Soderling.
Nadal had started yesterday’s match with a 70-1 win-loss record on the Paris clay and had also won his last four grand-slam matches against Djokovic, as well as their six encounters at the French Open.
Djokovic, however, had won five of their six previous meetings as Nadal’s form faltered in the build-up to Roland Garros and yesterday the Serb stepped on court as the favourite.
He also started the match on the back of a 14-0 winning run on clay.
Murray record
Murray preserved his 100 per cent claycourt record in 2015.
While the rest of tennis world was transfixed with the Djokovic-Nadal blockbuster that was simultaneously being played out on the main Philippe Chatrier stage, Murray went about his task in a businesslike manner to reach the last four in Paris for the third time.
A backhand volley winner gave him the first set, and after squandering a match point in the third set, the British third seed sealed his 15th successive win on red dirt with an unreturnable serve.
In the women’s tournament, Serena Williams crushed Italian Sara Errani 6-1 6-3 to reach the semi-finals in intimidating fashion.
The twice Roland Garros champion set up a meeting with Timea Bacsinszky who beat Belgian Alison van Uytvanck 6-4 7-5 in the other quarter-final.
Bacsinszky, seeded 23, produced a fearless brand of baseline tennis to became the first Swiss woman since Martina Hingis in 2001 to reach the last four at Roland Garros.
Williams hammered 39 winners in a one-sided encounter against the diminutive 17th seed Errani, a French Open runner-up in 2012.
“I knew I had to start better today than the other days because she’s a tough opponent who’s got history here,” Williams told an interviewer in French.
She had lost only two sets in eight victories from as many matches against Errani, but the Italian pushed her to the limit in their last encounter in the Fed Cup in April.
Williams had dropped the opening set in her previous three rounds but was quickly out of the blocks yesterday, setting the tone by breaking in Errani’s first service game.
A brilliant backhand passing shot handed Errani an immediate break back but Williams was in the groove and dominated the rest of the opening set.
Errani upped her pace in the second set as she looked quicker on her feet.
However, it was still not enough as Williams broke for a 4-3 lead and she finished it off on her fourth match point.