Rafael Nadal summoned all he had to see off the challenge of Jannik Sinner and progress to the semi-finals of the French Open.
The match finished at 01:25 local time – the tournament’s latest-ever finish – with conditions throughout being cold and windy.
The pair had been made to wait for their match due to the lengthy men’s quarter-final between Diego Schwartzman and Dominic Thiem which went beyond five hours, and then for the ladies’ semi-final meeting between Iga Swiatek and Martina Trevisan.
At one point it looked uncertain that the match would go ahead at all, but with no curfew on play, the pair finally began at 22:36.
The first set was a tough battle for Nadal, with Sinner hitting powerful groundstrokes and moving his vaunted opponent around.
And the Italian was just two points from taking it on a tie-break.
But he tightened up and as so often, Nadal fought back to prevail.
Though the second was another tight affair, Nadal took that 6-4, before racing away with the third 6-1.
Sinner was perhaps hampered by a problem with his right leg, for which he called the physio after the punishing first set.
Next up for Nadal in the semi-finals will be familiar foe Diego Schwartzman, who he lost to at the Rome Masters just last month.
At the age of 34, it will be Nadal‘s 34th Grand Slam semi-final, and his 13th at Roland Garros.