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.
