French Open 2020 - Rafael Nadal battles past plucky Jannik Sinner in near 1.30am finish

ByEurosport

Updated 07/10/2020 at 06:56 GMT

Rafael Nadal overcame Italian sensation Jannik Sinner on Philippe-Chatrier, beating the 19-year-old 7-6(4) 6-4 6-1 in a match that finished as the clock edged towards 01:30 local time. He will face Diego Schwartzman next - the man who beat him in the Italian Open quarter-finals last month.

Rafael Nadal battled his way past 19-year-old Jannik Sinner to reach the French Open semi-finals and book an encounter with his Italian Open conqueror Diego Schwartzman.

In what was Nadal’s 100th match at Roland Garros, the 12-time champion moved his record to 98-2 in Paris with the clock reading 1:26am local time when he eventually broke Sinner’s resolve, prevailing 7-6(4) 6-4 6-1.

Sinner more than held his own for large parts of the match, however, outlining his potential by taking 11 games against Nadal – an amount only three players have bettered (Dominic Thiem, David Goffin, Schwartzman) against the Spaniard in Paris since 2015.

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Highlights: Nadal storms into semi-finals with Sinner win

In some ways it was the perfect match for Nadal, who was forced to dig deep ahead of his rematch with Schwartzman, who beat him in the Rome Masters quarter-final last month and overcame Dominic Thiem in a mammoth five-set encounter earlier on Tuesday.

Starting at 10.36pm local time – partly due to the marathon between Schwartzman and Thiem – Sinner did not look phased by the occasion of playing his first Grand Slam quarter-final.

The teenager seemed comfortable in the early stages and beat Nadal with a short backhand to earn the first break point of the match in the fifth game.

Henman: Sinner was 'incredibly impressive' in Nadal defeat

Although he was unable to take the chance, Sinner continued to impress as he pushed the defending champion around the court with some powerful hitting.

His aggressive approach earned him the first break of the match to move 6-5 ahead, but he followed up with a poor service game and Nadal broke straight back with successive forehand winners down the line.

The 12-time champion then dominated the tie-break to win a hard-fought opening set in 72 minutes.

'There could have been a terrible accident there!' - Nadal finishes point in chairs

Sinner had treatment on his thigh between sets but didn’t look troubled at the start of the second as he continued to play on the front foot.

The early stages of that set saw the clock pass midnight in Paris, and it was Sinner who edged 3-1 in front before Nadal – as he did in the opening set – broke back immediately.

After avoiding a potential accident when colliding into the chairs, at 4-4 Nadal then rallied from 40-15 to win four points in a row on Sinner’s serve and break at a crucial time, going on to serve it out in the next game and take a two-set lead despite Sinner showing off his impressive shot-play.

'Almost better than playing tennis!' - Sinner conjures remarkable winner

Smelling blood, Nadal broke in the first game of the third set, and then broke to love two games later after a couple of Sinner double faults.

Nadal did not relent and he eventually sealed the match with a smash on Sinner’s serve, punching the air in joy and relief as he overcame his trickiest opponent of the tournament so far.

'Nadal finally had a test - and it was needed' - Chris Evert

Seven-time champion Chris Evert joined Barbara Schett and Tim Henman after the match, saying Nadal would benefit from the stiff examination from the Italian teenager.

"I thought he [Nadal] did great. Finally, he had a good test. He needs a test if he’s going to play Djokovic later on," said Evert.

"I feel like he plays better when he’s hugging the baseline and when he’s the aggressor and he finally started to play that way in the second and third set.

"When he also comes to the net, it shows me Rafa is really confident."

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