Top seed Jannik Sinner overcame sixth seed Novak Djokovic on Friday night to move into a French Open final clash with Carlos Alcaraz.
Sinner beat the three-time champion 6-4, 7-5, 7-6.
"It's a dream to be in the final on Sunday," Sinner told on court interviewer Alex Corretja after battling with Djokovic for three hours and 16 minutes.
"I had to show my best tennis," Sinner added. "It's always a privilege to play against Novak."
Sinner entered the fray having won his past three encounters with the Serb.
He engineered the first break point of the tie in the fifth game and clinched it when the ball bounced and reared up over Djokovic's racquet.
Sinner maintained his advantage to take the opener 6-4 after 45 minutes.
Second set chance
Around 40 minutes later, the 23-year-old Italian had the chance to claim the second set by the same score. But he fluffed his opportunity and rekindled Djokovic's hopes.
But those were rapidly extinguished. Djokovic squandered two game points on his way to handing the initiative back to Sinner.
At 6-5 up, a fifth ace brought Sinner a second set point and a strong serve forced the error from Djokovic to put Sinner in the driving seat.
Even then Sinner said her did not feel comfortable.
"If I lose the third set, of course I'm up two sets to one, but things can change. The mental side can give you so much strength or also the opposite - the negative part of it.
"I'm very happy that I closed it out in three."
That brevity was down to Sinner's resilience in the third set. He saved three set points before levelling at 5-5.
Moment of danger
That was essentially the last moment of danger. Sinner rolled through the shoot-out seven points to three to sew up the semi and move into his first French Open final.
"Congratulations to Jannik for another very good and solid performance," said Djokovic.
"I think mentally he deserved big credit for hanging in there in the tough moments when the whole stadium was cheering for me and he was set points down. He managed to find some really good shots. He showed why he's number one in the world. He was just too solid."
Sinner will take on Alcaraz who came through his semi-final when Lorenzo Musetti retired at the start of the fourth set with a injury to his left leg.
"Carlos is a player who makes me a better player," said Sinner. "He pushes me to the limit and I try to understand where I have to improve for the next time I play against him.
"I believe that tennis or every sport needs rivalries. This could be potentially one of these but there are amazing players coming up or one player drops. You never know."
