Guardian

• Serena, Sharapova In Epic Final Saturday

IT was a great tennis battle between the current best player in the world and the greatest claycourt player of all time. At the end, Spaniard Rafa Nadal outclassed Serbia’s Novak Djokovic to reach the French Open final. It was their 35th meeting.

With his victory 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-7(3) 9-7 in a pulsating 4-1/2 hour, Nadal has equalled the record for most number of wins at Roland Garros. He now has 58 wins (and just one loss to his name) joining Roger Federer, who has 58 wins and 13 losses in Paris to his name.

Nadal displayed the athleticism and self-belief that earned him seven French Open titles to tame the world number one Djokovic.

In a match of high-drama featuring a point penalty, a near tumble over the net and trick-shot mishaps, it was the sinew-stretching rallies that made the difference as Nadal withstood Djokovic’s baseline onslaught to extend his run at the claycourt major to a jaw-dropping 58-1.

Nadal had stood two points from the final in the fourth set when he inexplicably let Djokovic off the hook by dropping serve at 6-5 up.

Djokovic blitzed through the fourth set tiebreak 7-3 and then streaked into a 4-2 lead in the decider when Nadal’s fighting instincts kicked in to leave the Serb floundering.

A forehand long on match point secured Nadal an unprecedented eighth appearance in the Paris final and a meeting against either home hope, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.

Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova says she will have to “try something different” when she faces world number one Serena Williams in Saturday’s French Open final.

Williams is on a 30-match winning streak and thrashed Sara Errani in 46 minutes in the semi-finals.

Defending champion Sharapova, who battled past Victoria Azarenka in three sets, last beat Williams in 2004 and has lost their past 12 matches.

“I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t bother me,” said the Russian.

“I don’t think that it would be a pretty competitive statement if I said it didn’t. I would love to change that around.

“Obviously whatever I did in the past hasn’t worked, so I’ll have to try to do something different and hopefully it will.”

Sharapova, 26, has won just one set in their past 11 matches and lost in straight sets on the Madrid clay only last month.

“I don’t feel like I have taken my chances and opportunities [against Williams],” said the second seed.

“When she is up all the time, whether it’s a break or if she feels like she’s constantly getting second serves or is able to rip every ball because there’s nothing on your ball - she does extremely well when she’s in that position.