On Tuesday, top-ranked Novak Djokovic took on the fifth seeded Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the 2022 French Open. With so much at stake, the match certainly brought out a high level of play between the two rivals once again. And once again, Nadal reminded everyone why he is known as the ‘King of Clay.'

Nadal defeated Djokovic 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 to advance to the French Open semifinals Friday.

After the match, Nadal, exhausted after a four-hour marathon that ended after 1am local time, had a simple explanation.

“One of those magic nights for me,” Nadal said.

Nadal easily took care of the first set. Nadal then jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the second set, but Djokovic stormed back to even the match. After Nadal took control once again in the third, Djokovic jumped out 3-0 in the fourth.

The world's number one player even had a couple set points that could have forced a final fifth set. Nadal, however, held each time, eventually breaking and easily handled Djokovic in the tie-break.

Nadal improved to an absurd 110-3 at the French Open during his career. He is looking to win his 14th career French Open title. The second most in the Open Era is Bjorn Borg with six.

But even more importantly, Nadal is looking to win his 22nd career Grand Slam title. His 21 championships is currently one ahead of both Roger Federer and Djokovic. That is part of why Tuesday's match was so important. The winner was surely to be the favorite to win the 2022 French Open title.

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