Men's French Open final set
Novak Djokovic's perfect season and 43-match winning streak were ended by Roger Federer in the semifinals at Roland Garros. The 16-time Grand Slam champion beat the second-seeded Serb 7-6 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5) on Friday and will face Rafael Nadal in the final for the fourth time in six years.
"I've trained a lot during my whole life for these kinds of matches," Federer said. "There was an enormous amount of pressure on Novak and he really played well."
Five-time champion Nadal, who is one victory away from equaling Bjorn Borg's record of six French Open titles, defeated Andy Murray 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 earlier on Court Philippe Chatrier to improve his record at Roland Garros to 44-1.
On Sunday, Nadal will try to beat Federer for the sixth time in eight Grand Slam finals.
"Beating Novak today was maybe a good birthday gift for him because he lost his four previous matches against Novak," Federer said of Nadal, who turned 25 on Friday. "I'm going to play against Nadal, my main rival, in another Grand Slam final. We live for these moments."
Djokovic entered the French Open as the hottest man on tour. He won every tournament he had played in 2011, including earning his second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open after beating Federer in their second straight major semifinal.
But for Federer, three times in a row was too many.
The third-seeded Swiss had an answer to just about everything Djokovic could muster, sending back shot after shot and waiting for his opponent to make the mistakes -- even though Federer finished with 46 unforced errors, five more than Djokovic.
"A loss cannot feel good, that's for sure," Djokovic said. "But, look, I know what to do. I handle myself better off the court, on the court. I'll just accept it as another loss."
The two traded a pair of breaks in the first set, and Djokovic then led 5-4 in the tiebreak when three unforced errors -- a backhand and two forehands -- gave Federer the set.
"The first set was monstrous," Federer said, "and in the second set we were both tired because the pace was unbelievable."
In the second, Federer took Djokovic's serve to jump ahead 4-1 and held on to win it despite wasting nine more break chances.
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