Biggest upset by a World No. 1 player ever

A match billed as the real French Open final last night turned into a battle that might define an era, as Novak Djokovic brilliantly deposed the king of Roland Garros. A quirk of the ranking system made this a last four contest, but it was worthy of far more as he dismissed 13-time champion Rafael Nadal 3-6 6-3 7-6 6-2 across four hours and 11 minutes of breathtaking tennis.

THE EPIC

Set 1: The first set, though won by the Spanish with a 6-3 margin, went on for 61 minutes. Nadal saved a couple of break-points in the very first game of the match and then went 5-0 up before Djokovic fought back to show that he is up for the fight and won't take the Nadal challenge lying down.

Set 2: The third set, which saw heavy duty and sparring tennis, went into a tie-breaker after Djokovic had broken a tired looking Nadal in the fifth game. Nadal broke back in the sixth game.

The see-saw battle went on before the top seed sealed the set 7-4 in tie-break and took a 2-1 lead after three sets.

Set 3: The Serb took the second set. The seventh game was the heart of the set, indeed the match, as neither gave an inch.

Djokovic played some beautiful shots, some cross-courts even as he made some glaring errors. But the game that went on for over 10 minutes saw Nadal hitting the ball outside the court on number of occasions and being forced to commit errors. The ninth game too stretched for long before the Serb sealed it. He won the set 6-3.

Set 4: The fourth set saw unrelenting Nadal breaking Djokovic but then the Serb won the final six games to seal a place in the final.

Match Stats Djokovic Nadal

6 Aces 6

3 Double faults 8

65% First serve % 65%

64% Win % on 1st serve 59%

55% Win % on 2nd serve 49%

8/22 Break points 6/16

1 Tiebreaks won 0

63 Receiving points won 54

142 Points won 124

22 Games won 17

6 Max games won in a row 5

7 Max points won in a row 9

79 Service points won 70

13 Service games won 11