Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in French Open Final
PARIS - Novak Djokovic will get another chance to claim his long coveted French Open title - against the man who has stood in his path the last two years.
Djokovic advanced to the Roland Garros final for the second time in three years with a 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory Friday over Ernests Gulbis.
He will face top-seeded Rafael Nadal, who demonstrated his Roland Garros prowess with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Andy Murray.
The French Open is the only Grand Slam tournament Djokovic has not won. Nadal defeated him in the 2012 final here and in five sets in the 2013 semifinals.
Sunday's final will be their 42nd meeting. Djokovic has won the last four, including the final in Rome on clay last month.
On a draining day, the hottest of the tournament, neither Djokovic nor Gulbis was at the top of his game in their semifinal.
Gulbis, playing in his first Grand Slam semifinal, acknowledged he was 'extra nervous and extra tense.'
The second-seeded Djokovic was in his 22nd Grand Slam semifinal, and it showed. He was in firm control of the match in the first two sets, meeting the few Gulbis challenges easily.
'It was not a good quality tennis at all,' Gulbis said. 'It was just grinding and just trying to put the ball in. Not me, not he felt the ball good. You know, it was really slow pace. It was a struggle out there.'
Serving at 3-4 in the second set, Gulbis gave Djokovic a break, with three errors and a double
fault, and Djokovic closed out the set.
Serving at 3-4 in the third set, Djokovic finally relented on the sixth break-point opportunity of the match, and Gulbis was able to extend the match, as Djokovic grew increasingly frustrated with the shots he was missing.
With new life in the match, Gulbis suffered a letdown in his first service of the fourth set, making four errors to give Djokovic a break.
But Djokovic, who said he was struggling physically, could not enjoy the success. He hit a backhand long in the first point of the next game, leaning back and screaming at the error. He was broken and responded by breaking his racket, earning hisses from the crowd.
The fateful eighth game came and the result was predictable. Gulbis, serving at 3-4, got ahead by 30-0, but double-faulted and made two backhand errors, helping Djokovic earn the crucial break.
Djokovic held at love to take the match. Gulbis finished with 44 unforced errors to Djokovic's 25.
Gulbis, seeded 18th, will enter the top 10 for the first time Monday after the most successful Grand Slam event of his tumultuous career.
'I'm not going to celebrate,' he said. 'It's not enough. I need to reach more now. Now I'm addicted to success.'
Nadal was very much at the top of his game against Murray on Friday. Nadal won 91 percent of his first-serve points and lost only 10 points on his own serve in the match.
An eight-time champion here, Nadal is in the Roland Garros final for the fifth straight year, compiling a 34-match winning streak.
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