Nadal to French Open final after Zverev gets injured; Ruud up next

PARIS >> Rafael Nadal was locked in a tight, compelling and lengthy French Open semifinal Friday when his opponent, third-seeded Alexander Zverev, ran to chase a shot and twisted his right ankle. Zverev crumpled to the ground, wailing in agony and clutching at his lower leg.

His black outfit, arms and legs caked with rust-colored clay, Zverev was helped up by a trainer, then taken away from the court in a wheelchair. Minutes later, after Nadal saw him crying in a small room in the stadium, Zverev came back out onto Court Philippe Chatrier on crutches, his right shoe removed, and conceded the match, unable to continue.

The sudden end to a contest that was 3 hours old but not even through two full sets allowed Nadal to become, on his 36th birthday, the second-oldest men's finalist in French Open history. Now he will try to become the oldest champion at a tournament he's already won a record 13 times, facing first-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud on Sunday.

“Only thing that I can say is I hope he's not too bad. Hopefully it's just the normal thing when you turn your ankle, and hopefully nothing (is broken). That's what everybody hopes,” Nadal said. “Even if for me it's a dream to be in the final of Roland Garros, of course that way is not the way that we want it to be. ... If you are human, you should feel very sorry for a colleague.”

With the pitter-patter of rain audible against the closed retractable roof at Court Philippe Chatrier, and many in the crowd of 15,000 repeatedly chanting

“Ra-fa! Ra-fa!” he emerged to claim a tight-as-can-be, draining first set by a 7-6 (8) score after 1 1/2 hours. The second set also was headed to a tiebreaker after another 1 1/2 hours when Zverev tumbled behind the baseline and lost a point that allowed Nadal to hold serve for 6-all.

A trainer came out to attend to him, and Nadal walked around the net to check on Zverev, too. After Zverev returned to the court to say he would need to retire from the match, he shook the chair umpire's hand and then hugged Nadal.

Nadal has been dealing with chronic pain in his left foot and was coming off a pair of victories that each lasted more than 4 hours — including his quarterfinal against defending champion Novak Djokovic that ended at 1:15 a.m. on Wednesday — but showed no signs of age, injury or fatigue against the 25-year-old Zverev.

What Nadal said afterward did give him trouble was the way the heavy humidity affected things, with clay sticking to the tennis balls and making it harder for him to apply his thick topspin.

In addition to bidding for a 14th trophy from the French Open, Nadal can claim his 22nd Grand Slam title to add to the men's record he already holds after his triumph at the Australian Open in January. Djokovic and Roger Federer are tied at 20.*