Nadal grits his way past Schwartzman to reach 13th French Open final

Rafael Nadal moved into his 13th French Open final on Friday with a straight sets win over the 12th seed Diego Schwartzman.

The 12-time champion won 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 after a slugfest lasting three hours and eight minutes.

Nadal, who lost to Schwartzman in the quarter-final of the Italian Open last month,  opened the match shortly after 3pm on Court Philippe Chatrier in Paris.

And it did not start well. He faced two break points during a game which lasted 14 minutes.

It took him barely a third of that time to break Schwartzman and move into a 2-0 lead.

But the Argentine came back to 2-1 but could not hold to level at 2-2.

Nadal surged away and took the opener after 67 minutes.

Speed
The second was a swifter affair. A break at the outset and at the end wrapped up matters in 41 minutes.

And the Spaniard appeared set fair for a Sunday showdown when he moved into a 3-1 lead in the third.

But a couple of errors allowed Schwartzman hope and the Grand Slam semi final debutant - feeding off the cheers of the thousand spectators - gained parity at 4-4.

In an epic 12-minute game at 5-5, Nadal fended off three break points before holding to lead 6-5.

Parity
When Schwartzman brought it back to 6-6, not only was the second seed playing in his longest match of the 2020 tournament, he was also facing the prospect of losing his first set of the competition.

“I had a couple of chances in the third set to move away from Diego,” Nadal told on-court interviewer Cedric Pioline after the match. “But I could not take them and after what happened in Rome, I knew what he could do.

"I was expecting a tough match and it was. I am happy with the way I am improving.”

Nadal, seemingly affronted that he might become embroiled in an extended dogfight, scorched away a backhand winner to take the first point of the tiebreak.

At 3-0 up, Schwartzman had him on the run and Nadal sent up a lob which the Argentine smashed into the tramlines.

Leading 4-0, Nadal hoovered up the next three points to advance to his 28th final at a Grand Slam tournament.

“Diego and I have played many times,” Nadal added. “And each time, he's playing better and better. It's a real joy to play another final here in Paris, I want to say thank you to my family and my team and all the fans.”