Novak Djokovic tops Rafael Nadal to reach French Open final - ESPN

Novak Djokovic calls his win in the French Open semifinals over Rafael Nadal the best match he has been a part of at Roland Garros.

PARIS -- Sprinting, sliding and stretching, anticipating each other's moves for four sets and more than four hours, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal produced a masterpiece in the French Open semifinals.

Djokovic stopped Nadal's bid for a 14th French Open title and handed the King of Clay just his third loss in 108 matches at the tournament by coming back to win a thriller of a semifinal 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2 at Roland Garros on Friday night.

After trailing 0-2 in the fourth set, Djokovic rattled off six consecutive games to avenge his loss to Nadal in last year's final.

"Just one of these nights and matches that you will remember forever,'' said the top-seeded Djokovic, who reached his sixth final at the clay-court major tournament to tie Bjorn Borg for No.

"Definitely the best match that I was part of ever in Roland Garros, for me, and (one of the) top three matches that I ever played in my entire career -- considering quality of tennis, playing my biggest rival on the court where he has had so much success and has been the dominant force in the last 15-plus years.

The 34-year-old Djokovic will be seeking his second trophy at Roland Garros and a 19th major championship overall when he plays in Sunday's final against fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is just 22.

It will be the 29th career Grand Slam final for Djokovic, and the first for Tsitsipas, who beat Alexander Zverev in five sets in a semifinal match earlier Friday.

By beating Rafael Nadal in the French Open semifinals, Novak Djokovic has defeated the defending champion at a major for the eighth time in his career.

Nadal, a 14-time winner of the French Open who turned 35 last week, fell to 105-3 in his career at Roland Garros.

That was only the fourth shutout set lost by Djokovic in 341 career Grand Slam matches up to that point -- and the first in a major final.

Djokovic now leads 30-28, but he trails 10-7 in Slam meetings and 7-2 at the French Open