Novak Djokovic advanced to his fifth Wimbledon final after defeating Rafael Nadal in a five-set thriller to set up a final clash against Kevin Anderson.

In what was probably the match of the tournament, the two tennis heavyweights went back and forth ― matching each other blow by blow ― it was the 2015 champion who came out on top in his bid to become champion at Wimbledon for a fourth time.

Nadal was made to work hard to hold serve in the early stages by Djokovic, as his first four serves went to deuce. He won the first three, but the fourth time his serve was broken and the Serb took a 4-3 lead. Nadal could not get the break back and Djokovic took the first set 6-4.

The second set was filled with break-points and Nadal had to save three of them in his opening two services of the second set. That gave him confidence to break Djokovic in the fourth and sixth games. He did lose his serve in the fifth, but that was the only blemish as he took the second 6-3 to level the match.

The third set was an exact opposite of the second as it did not see a single break-point as both men held serve to send it to a tie-break. Nadal had three chances to clinch the set, but Djokovic dug deep to save all of them, and he took the third on his second attempt to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The match resumed on Saturday, with Nadal taking 16 minutes to hold the opening serve. Djokovic could not win his opening service as Nadal broke to take an early lead in the fourth set.

Djokovic got the break back in the fifth game, but he gave one up again in the eighth. Nadal served out the set and the match was level once again.

Nadal and Djokovic both started the deciding set with easy holds in the first seven games. In the eighth and ninth neither of them could capitalise on the break-points they received.

Nadal had another three break-points in the 15th game of the set, but Djokovic saved all of them. Djokovic had a match-point in the very next game, but at 30-40, Nadal played a brilliant drop-shot to get back to deuce and serve out the rest of the game to get back to 8-8.

Djokovic had three match-points during Nadal’s following service with the score at 0-40, he only needed one as a Nadal error ensured that Djokovic will face Anderson in Sunday’s final with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (9), 3-6, 10-8 victory.

Photo: Wimbledon.com