Tennis:Roger Federer ended Novak Djokovic's 41-match unbeaten run in Paris this evening to set up a fourth French Open final with five-time champion Rafa Nadal. The Swiss also stopped the Serb from becoming world number one as Djokovic failed in his quest to equal John McEnroe's 1984 record of 42 wins since the start of the season.
The 7-6 6-3 3-6 7-6 victory sees him in the final alongside his Spanish rival, who blew Andy Murray off court with a 6-4 7-5 6-4 win earlier today. Federer has never beaten Nadal in their three previous finals at Roland Garros, but he will be brimming with confidence after tonight's performance.
Djokovic went off the rails as Federer raised his game to new heights to reach his fifth Paris final and his first grand-slam showpiece since last year's Australian Open.
The 16-time grand slam winner recovered from a break down in the opening set, which he bagged by winning the tiebreak 7-5.
The 2009 champion rode the momentum to break for 3-1 in the second set, which he won after saving a break point in the ninth game with an ace.
With his back to the wall, Djokovic pulled a set back after snatching Federer's serve in the second game but Federer left the crowd in awe of a superb passing backhand down the line in the fourth set and stunned his opponent with a second-serve ace on his way to a 7-5 tie-break win.
Nadal’s amazing court coverage, vicious forehands and crosscourt backhands were this afternoon too much for Murray, who was bidding to become the first British man to reach the final at Roland Garros since Bunny Austin in 1937.
Nadal, who now has a 44-1 record at the French Open, teased Murray by handing him a few openings. But that was as good as it got as the fourth seed because every time he earned a break point, Nadal slammed the door shut with yet another fizzing winner.
Murray, who had never beaten Nadal on clay in three previous attempts but had won a set in Monte Carlo in April, began brightly, holding serve comfortably, but in the third game he could not stop the Spaniard breaking through.
The Scot could consider himself very unfortunate not to respond straight away in a lengthy Nadal service game as the top seed benefited from a huge mishit on one of Murray’s three break points. It was vintage Nadal as he pounded his opponent with power and vicious spin and, despite not playing badly, the fourth seed soon found himself 5-1 down.
Murray stopped the rot to force the defending champion to serve out the set, and for once he was found wanting, three errors allowing the 24-year-old to retrieve one of the breaks.
Suddenly he was back in the set and he began to trouble Nadal off the ground. Murray even had two break points to level at 5-5 but the Spaniard held his nerve.
The wind was again causing problems for both players but it was the Scot who seemed particularly affected, mistiming shots at the most inopportune moment when he created two break points in Nadal’s first service game of the second set.
At 2-2 Murray played his first really poor game of the match to hand the top seed a break, but he responded in kind when Nadal uncharacteristically served a double-fault on break point.
The Spaniard piled on the pressure again and, although Murray saved two break points, the first after defensive play his opponent would have been proud of, on the third Nadal played a series of stunning forehands to make it three breaks in a row.
Amazingly that became four when a brilliant cross-court backhand return from Murray, a shot he was using with great effect, was too good even for Nadal. The fourth seed briefly stopped the sequence but the barrage continued and Nadal created three more break points at 5-5. The first was saved with an ace, the second a desperate, lunging volley, but on the third the Spaniard powered away a forehand before serving out to love.
As so often against Nadal, Murray had played some brilliant tennis and traded toe to toe with the 25-year-old but come out second best on the scoreboard. He seemed to carry the disappointment of losing the second set into the third and found himself a break down after the opening game, although he summoned up the mental strength to hit back from 15-30 to hold for 1-2.
Murray was determined to make Nadal work for it at least and he created break points in all of the Spaniard’s next three service games but once more the champion stood firm. The Scot had taken only three of 18 chances on Nadal’s serve, and after three hours and eight minutes he found himself serving to stay in the match.
He came through that test with aplomb but, having battled so hard to stay in front, the top seed was not about to falter and he rounded off victory with a love hold, falling to his knees in celebration.