Rafael Nadal overcame tricky conditions as he eased past Roger Federer 6-3 6-4 6-2 to reach his 12th Roland Garros final.
It was a clay-court masterclass as the 11-time champion eased past one of his greatest rivals in straight sets in windy conditions.
The Spaniard will now look for a 12th title on Sunday as he faces either Novak Djokovic or Dominic Thiem.
On a drizzly and windy day in Paris, it was Nadal who started the better in episode 39 of this historic rivalry as he secured a 3-0 lead.
This was no normal match though as the windy conditions allowed both players good opportunities to create opportunities to break.
A few good shots saw Nadal struggle to hit against the wind as the 20 time grand slam champion broke back and gave himself a chance of getting back into the rhythm of the match.
Both players understandably wanted to shorten the points up at the net, which lead to some entertaining duels with Federer looking to consolidate serve.
https://twitter.com/Eurosport_UK/status/1136961507990917120
A long game though sealed the break back for the Spaniard and a ridiculous backhand cross-court sealed the second hold of serve against the wind to take the opening set.
The game-plan didn’t change for the 2009 champion despite losing the opening set as he looked to rush Nadal’s thought process with some aggressive play.
A quick break of serve gave the Swiss something to build on but unfortunately from his perspective he couldn’t keep up this tactic on serve.
For the second time today, Federer couldn’t consolidate the break as Nadal turned defence into offence with relative ease.
After some comfortable holds and good aggressive play, he couldn’t hold off the 11 time champions’ surge in level with the crowd being treated to the best part of the match.
Some ridiculous play on the forehand showed why Nadal is the ‘king of clay’ as he broke the third seed from 40-0 down to seal the crucial break in the ninth game.
A hold to love saw Federer face a mountain to climb as he was forced to do what no person had done before him and that’s comeback from two sets down to beat Rafael Nadal.
Nadal strikes!
The Spaniard breaks and will serve for the 2nd set #RG19 pic.twitter.com/U6eksz98Bj
— Eurosport (@eurosport) June 7, 2019
The job was made even harder as a backhand net cord winner saw the 33 year-old grab another break as he was closing in on a 12th final in Paris.
There was nothing Federer could do to stop Nadal’s surge as it was just ridiculous tennis from the world number two with a forehand flick sealing the double break lead.
A masterclass on how to compete on a clay-court was complete as Nadal booked his place in a 12th Roland Garros final in tricky conditions.
Even though it was a decent start by Federer, there was no stopping the 11-time Roland Garros champion as he looks to make more history on Sunday against Novak Djokovic or Dominic Thiem.
