The path to the final

THREE straight sets wins and one five-setter apiece — the two French Open finalists path to the title have been remarkably similar so far.

While evergreen Novak Dokovic has taken 22 sets enroute to the final, the young Greek upstart Stefanos Tsitispas has taken one fewer – albeit against consistently tougher opponents.

But with both coming off long, sapping semifinals against genuine title contenders (especially so in the case of Djokovic’s epic against Nadal) the tale of this final is likely to come down to which of them is going to bounce back fastest ahead of the matchup, due to start at 1am Monday, (NZT).

Novak Djokovic

Semifinal: R Nadal 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2

Quarterfinal: M Berrettini 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5

Fourth round: L Musetti 6-7 (7-9), 6-7 (2-7), 6-1, 6-0, 4-0 (walkover)

Third round: R Berankis 6-1, 6-4, 6-1

Second round: P Cuevas 6-3, 6-2, 6-4

First round: T Sandgren 6-2, 6-4, 6-2

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Semifinal: A Zverev 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3

Quarterfinal: D Medvedev 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5

Fourth round: P Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-2, 7-5

Third round: J Isner 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1

Second round: P Martinez 6-3, 6-4, 6-3

First round: J Chardy 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-1