Nadal Leads Djokovic Before Rain Halts Paris Final

Written by: Staff on 10th June 2012

Nadal Leads Djokovic Before Rain Halts Paris Final |

Paris, France

by ATP Staff | 10.06.2012

Original link: (http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2012/06/23/Roland-Garros-Final-Nadal-Leads-Djokovic-Before-Rain-Suspends-Play.aspx )

The Roland Garros final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal was postponed on Sunday when rain halted play in the fourth set. The final will resume on Monday at 1pm CEST/7am EST, with Djokovic serving at 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 2-1.

Rain first stopped play in the second set with Nadal leading 6-4, 5-3. After returning from a 34-minute delay, Nadal broke to take the second set, and had an opportunity to control the match in the third set before Djokovic staged his comeback trailing two sets and a break. Down 0-2, the Serbian won eight consecutive games to reverse the momentum before play was suspended for the second time.

For Nadal, it was just the third time in 53 Roland Garros matches that he had won two or fewer games in a set (’09 4th rd. vs. Robin Soderling and ’06 final vs. Roger Federer). It was also the first time he dropped a set at the tournament since winning a five-set match against John Isner in a first-round encounter last year.

Both players are looking to make history with a final victory. Djokovic is bidding to become just the second player in the Open Era to hold all four Grand Slam trophies simultaneously, while Nadal is aiming to win a record-breaking seventh trophy in Paris, currently tied with Bjorn Borg with six titles.

The Spaniard is 51-1 at the event and has defeated Djokovic in their three previous Roland Garros clashes. He had only dropped serve once entering the final, but has been broken seven times by Djokovic. The World No. 1 has already won two five-set thrillers during his run to the final, rallying from a two-sets-to-love deficit against Andreas Seppi in the round of 16, and edging Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a five-set quarter-final clash after saving four match points.

Topics: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roland Garros