Novak Djokovic beat Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the semifinal of the French Open on Wednesday, becoming the oldest man to do so at Roland Garros since 1968 at the age of 38.

Overall, Djokovic became the second oldest man to reach Roland Garros semifinals in Open Era. Only Pancho Gonzales in 1968 was older than Djokovic, at age 40.

Playing against Zverev, who is 10 years younger than Djokovic, the Serbian legend outclassed the German to reach his 51st Grand Slam semifinal, 13 of which have come at the French Open. One of the epic moments of the match was Djokovic winning a 41-shot rally against Zverev.

By winning the match, Djokovic became the 5th man aged above 38 to reach a Grand Slam semifinal in history. He is the first man to reach a Slam semifinal since Roger Federer at the 2020 Australian Open.

After the match, when Zverev was asked whether he expected Djokovic to play for 3 hours and 17 minutes, the German retorted: “What do you want me to say? He has won 24 of these things. Yes. I expected him to be able to play like this. I have not seen him play like this this year yet. I think it was a very, very high level from him. It was at some point difficult for me."

Seeking his 25th Grand Slam title, Djokovic, now ranked 6th, will face top seed Jannik Sinner on Friday after the Italian earlier eased to a straight-sets (6-1, 7-5, 6-0) victory over Alexander Bublik.

In their head-to-head record, Djokovic and Sinner are tied at 4-4. However, Sinner has won the last three meetings between the two players. Djokovic won their only meeting on clay in 2021. As Sinner has been on an unbeaten run, winning 19 consecutive matches and 26 consecutive sets in Grand Slams, Djokovic is in his zone and the final is expected to be a thrilling affair.

Talking about the clash against Sinner, Djokovic said, "It is going to be the semifinals of a Grand Slam against the World No. 1. There is no bigger occasion for me."