Roger Federer pulled a shock upset of Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the French Open, defeating the world No. 2 and tournament favorite 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 to end the Serbian’s 43-match winning streak.
Djokovic had not lost a match since his semifinal loss to Federer in the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals in London last November.
The win sets up a titanic final on Sunday between Federer and world No. 1 and five-time champ Rafael Nadal.
Nadal will be seeking his sixth career title at Roland Garros, to tie Bjorn Borg for the all-time men’s record, and also to keep his No. 1 ranking, which he will lose to Djokovic if he loses to Federer Sunday.
The Federer-Nadal final will mark their fourth Roland Garros final and their fifth career meeting at the French Championships – Nadal winning on all occasions.
Nadal, celebrating his 25th birthday Friday, advanced to the final with a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 win over Andy Murray in the earlier semifinal.
Legendary tennis coach Nick Bolletteiri tweeted of Federer’s win, “This to me is one of, if not the, greatest win in the history of Federer’s career.”
Djokovic’s loss ends his 43-match win streak that started with two singles victories in the Davis Cup final at the end of 2010. His loss preserves the ATP Tour record win streak of Guillermo Vilas (statistics starting in 1973) of 46 singles victories in 1977. According to THE BUD COLLINS HISTORY OF TENNIS book, Bill Tilden won 98 straight matches in 1924-25 and Don Budge won 92 in his Grand Slam year of 1938. Djokovic’s loss also preserved the best start to a season on the ATP World Tour record held by John McEnroe, who started 1984 by winning his first 42 matches. Djokovic would have tied this record with a win over Federer.
Federer, who has won a men’s record 16 major titles, will be seeking his second Roland Garros title to go with his 2009 title. He will be playing in his first major final since he won the 2010 Australian Open.