Seeking a maiden French title to complete a career Grand Slam and keep alive his hopes of a calendar Slam in 2015, Djokovic was imperious in all facets of his game, leaving nine-time winner Nadal a shell of his former self as he scrambled in vain over the clay.
It was a sobering way for the Spaniard to mark his 29th birthday. Nadal lost just his second match at Roland Garros, his only previous defeat in a decade being a fourth-round exit to Robin Soderling in 2009.
He was totally off the pace from the start, pushed further and further back as he failed to find any depth on his own groundstrokes and the No 6 seed quickly fell into a 0-4 deficit in the first set, before using his resolve and capitalising on some rare Djokovic errors to battle back to 4-4.
But that recovery sapped a huge amount of energy from Nadal and having gained parity, a terrible error on a straightforward smash in the 12th game opened the door for Djokovc to earn the crucial break and take the set.
Djokovic's break in the second set came in the eighth game courtesy of some exquisite drop-shots and although Nadal faced three set points in the ninth, he was powerless on the fourth - Djokovic setting up the winner with a wonderful no-look backhand volley to leave Nadal two-sets down for the first time in his career at Roland Garros.
And he looked a beaten man in the third as Djokovic, who fired 45 winners to Nadal's 16, rammed home his obvious superiority, racing into a 4-0 lead before claiming victory on Nadal's second double-fault of the match.
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