After all these years, Rafael Nadal experienced a first at the French Open: finishing a match after midnight.
Nadal moved two match wins shy of tying Roger Federer for the male Grand Slam singles titles record, sweeping 19-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
The match ended at 1:26 a.m. local time, but Nadal gets an extra day of rest. His semifinal against 12th-seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman is on Friday.
The French Open never had match play after 10 p.m. until this year. Now that there’s a roof installed on Court Philippe Chatrier and lights around the grounds, play can continue past sunset.