PARIS -- For 41 strokes, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev went back and forth in a crucial rally during the fourth set of their French Open quarterfinal Wednesday.
After smacking a forehand winner, Djokovic stayed in place afterward, breathing heavily, hands on hips, scanning the standing ovation from thousands of Court Philippe Chatrier spectators.
The 38-year-old Djokovic, the No. 6 seed, proved too much for No. 3 seed Zverev, who is a decade younger and was last year's runner-up at Roland Garros, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to set up a semifinal showdown against No. 1 Jannik Sinner on Friday.
It was Djokovic's 101st victory at Roland Garros, site of his Olympic gold medal victory last year at the Paris Games, and it took 3 hours, 17 minutes.
He's now two wins from becoming the first player -- male or female -- to win 25 Grand Slam singles trophies.
"Obviously there was a lot of tension [and] pressure, but it is normal when you play against Zverev," Djokovic said in a postmatch interview. "... My game is based on a lot of running. I am 38 years old. It is not easy to keep running like that but, OK, it works."
The defining 41-stroke rally arrived more than 2½ hours into the match. Djokovic led 3-2, but Zverev was in possession of a break point and a chance to get back into Wednesday's match.
Djokovic, after erasing the break point, won the game to take a 4-2 lead in the fourth set.
He might have slogged through a pair of three-match losing skids this season and slid to No. 6 in the rankings, but Djokovic hasn't lost his determination or his ability to be his best on big stages.
No one has spent more weeks at No. 1 in the rankings than Djokovic. No one has won more major championships or reached more major semifinals than his total, which now stands at 51 after becoming the second-oldest man to get that far in Paris.
"I still push myself on a daily basis at this age because of these kind of matches and these kind of experiences," Djokovic said. "It's a proven kind of testament to myself that I can -- and to others that I can -- still play on the highest level."
Zverev, who is still searching for his first Grand Slam title, started out strongly and broke Djokovic in the very first game and held on to that advantage to win the first set.
Knowing he could not match Zverev's fitness, Djokovic tried to keep the rallies as short as possible, playing more and more drop shots -- 35 in total -- to force the taller Zverev to the net.
Djokovic broke his opponent at 2-1 in the second set and was quickly 4-1 up before Zverev had time to react. He secured the second set with yet another drop shot.
The veteran then broke Zverev twice more to bag the third set with his opponent running out of steam, lacking accuracy and having no Plan B.
"What do you want me to say? He's won 24 of these things," Zverev said.
Another break at the very start of the fourth set put Djokovic 2-0 up and firmly on the winning track before he wrapped it up on his fifth match point.
There were some distractions, including a bunch of tiny flying insects the players kept trying to swat away and a back-and-forth between the chair umpire and some fans in the fourth set.
Needless to say, Djokovic handled it all much better. He also was superior in pretty much every way with the ball in play.
Friday's semifinal is a tantalizing showdown: Djokovic, the player many consider the top player in tennis history, against Sinner, the player who is at the top of the men's game at the moment. Djokovic and Sinner are tied 4-4 in their head-to-head series, but Sinner, who hasn't lost a set in this French Open, has won the last three matchups.
"He has shown now, in the last period, that he is back," Sinner said of Djokovic.
Said Djokovic: "I just hope that I will be able to physically keep up with Sinner in few days' time. It's a big challenge for me."
Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.