Nadal advances to his 14th French Open final after Zverev retires with injury

A semi-final between a Spaniard who has won the claycourt major a record 13-times and a red-hot German playing perhaps the best tennis in his career lived up to expectation for three hours and 13 minutes.

It took all that time for the players to exchange brutal shots from the baseline, break serve on numerous occasions and even miss multiple set points.

Yet they never even managed to complete two sets.

The German had been giving the 13-time Roland Garros champion a run for his money until he screamed out in agony after rolling his right ankle in the final point of the 12th game of the second set.

"Tough now. Very sad, he was playing an unbelievable tournament, he's a very good colleague on the tour," Nadal, who will face Norway's Casper Ruud on Sunday, said.

"I know how much he's fighting to win a Grand Slam."

"It was a super tough match. Over three hours and we didn't even finish the second set. Of course being in the final of Roland Garros is a dream without a doubt but at the same time that it finishes that way is tough. Seeing him cry like this is a tough moment."