It’s Rafa v Novak in Paris final

Put away your upset alerts, the French Open final that we’ve all been waiting for has arrived. It’s officially time for Rafael Nadal vs Novak Djokovic XLII. Nadal walked all over Andy Murray in the blazing sun yesterday on his way to tomorrow’s final of the French Open. The Spaniard was so superb for so long that the scoreline of 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 was not only an embarrassment to the loser but suggested that, had they played a fourth set, the symmetry would have continued all the way to zero for Murray. In the earlier game Djokovic battled past Ernests Gulbis on a hot afternoon in Paris to reach his second French Open final.

The Serb won 6-3 6-3 3-6 6-3, with both men appearing to struggle physically in the latter stages.
If there was any doubt about who ruled men’s tennis after Stanislas Wawrinka won the Australian Open, that has been put to rest throughout this fortnight in Paris. Now, the top two players in the world will battle tomorrow for both the 2014 French Open trophy and the No. 1 ranking.

By his lofty standards, Nadal struggled through the clay-court season, losing in back-to-back quarter-finals in April. But he’s looked like himself on the clay at Roland Garros, and he will try to win his ninth French Open title, his 14th major overall.

However, his opponent is no slouch. Djokovic is hungry to win his first title at Roland Garros and complete his Career Slam.
Be sure to set your alarm clocks for tomorrow morning. This is not a match that you’re going to want to miss.

If Rafael Nadal wins
• Earns his ninth French Open title. No man in the history of tennis has won any tournament (from a Slam to a lowly 250) that many times.
• Becomes first man in history to win a Grand Slam in 10 consecutive years.
• Ties Pete Sampras for second on the all-time list of Grand Slam wins with 14. Moves to within three of tying Roger Federer.
• Becomes first man to win five straight French Open titles. Nadal has twice won four straight at Roland Garros (including the current run). Bjorn

Borg also won four straight from 1978-81.
• Snaps a four-match losing streak to Djokovic (’14 Rome final, ’14 Miami final, ’13 Barclays WTF final, ’13 Beijing final).

If Novak Djokovic wins
• Completes the career Grand Slam. In the Open era, only Andre Agassi, Federer and Nadal have accomplished the feat.
• Make good on his status as the pre-tournament favourite. Improbably, Djokovic entered Roland Garros as the oddsmakers choice to win it all. As of last night, Nadal was the slight head-to-head favourite in tomorrow’s match.
• Earns his seventh Grand Slam, breaking a tie with Stefan Edberg and his coach Boris Becker and moves into a tie for 8th on the all-time list with John McEnroe and Mats Wilander.
• Snaps a three-match Grand Slam losing streak to Nadal (’13 U.S. Open final, ’13 French Open semifinal, ’12 French Open final).

No matter what
• Winner becomes No. 1 in the world.
• It’s their seventh meeting in a Grand Slam final. They’ve split in their six previous matches.
• Djokovic becomes sixth man to reach each Grand Slam final twice. Ken Rosewall, Ivan Lendl, Agassi, Federer and Nadal are the others.
• Nadal’s 20th Grand Slam final breaks a tie with Lendl for second on the all-time list. Federer leads with 24 finals.
• It’s the 42nd overall meeting between Djokovic and Nadal, with Nadal currently leading the series 22-19. No other pair has met more often in ATP history. But they have a long way to go to set the all-time record: Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova played a whopping 80 times during their careers. — Online