Rafael Nadal beats Novak Djokovic in French Open quarterfinals

In a match that Rafael Nadal warned might be his last at the French Open, he dispatched longtime rival Novak Djokovic to reach the semifinals, two match wins from a record-extending 14th Roland Garros title.

Nadal, who turns 36 on Friday, dispatched the top-ranked Serb 6-2, X-X, X-X in a night match in Paris. In Friday’s semifinals, he gets No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev, who upset Nadal’s 19-year-old countryman Carlos Alcaraz 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7).

“To win against Novak, there is only one way,” said Nadal, who lost to Djokovic in the 2021 French Open semifinals. “It’s to play at your best since the first point ’til the last, no? Tonight has been one of these magic nights for me. Unexpected level.”

The Nadal-Zverev winner will likely be the favorite in Sunday’s final given the top two seeds in the other half of the draw lost in the round of 16.

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After Alcaraz was eliminated, it became clear that the Nadal-Djokovic winner would become the clear title favorite. Nadal narrowed the margin in their rivalry — the most prolific in men’s tennis history in the Open Era — to 30-29 in favor of Djokovic.

Nadal, though he won the Australian Open in January in Djokovic’s absence, came into this tournament as an underdog behind Djokovic and Alcaraz.

A foot injury that first bothered him in 2005 — when he won his first French Open title at age 19 — has become an increasing problem and impacted his lead-up to Roland Garros. He failed to win a clay-court tournament before coming to Paris for the first time in his career (not counting COVID-impacted 2020).

Nadal also needed five sets, four hours and 21 minutes to win his previous match Sunday, a fourth-rounder against Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime