Top 5 Grand Slam men's singles matches of 2019

#3 2019 Roland Garros Semi-final: Dominic Thiem beats Novak Djokovic 6-2 3-6 7-5 5-7 7-5

Thiem beats Djokovic in the Roland Garros semifinals

In his fourth consecutive Roland Garros semifinal, Dominic Thiem faced 2016 winner Novak Djokovic who was looking to hold all four Grand Slam titles for the second time in his career.

In the duo's third meeting on the terre battue of Paris - Djokovic beat Thiem in the 2016 semifinals and the Austrian returned the compliment in the 2017 quarterfinals - it was the Austrian who got off to a brighter start. But after taking the first set with two breaks of the Djokovic serve, Thiem could not build on his momentum; Djokovic fought back gamely to restore parity at one set apiece.

Amidst swirling winds, Thiem broke for a 3-1 lead in the third as the match was suspended for the day. Djokovic returned the next day to get back on serve. In a pulsating end to the third set, Thiem grabbed the decisive break en route to taking a two sets to one lead.

Once again, however, Djokovic fought back. With the elements relenting, the Serb found more depth in his groundstrokes as he began to puncture holes in Thiem's baseline game.

The Austrian was unable to muster an adequate response to the new strategy from his opponent as Djokovic took the fourth 7-5 to force a decider.

It was now uncharted territory for Thiem as he was taken the distance for the first time at Roland Garros. However, he surged to a 4-1 lead in the decider and earned a break point - when a third interruption ensued.

Upon resumption Djokovic held serve and broke Thiem at 2-4, only to lose serve in the next game to allow his opponent to serve for the match. The World No. 1 was not done for the day though.

At 5-3 on Thiem serve's, Djokovic saved two match points to get back on serve. But just when it looked like the momentum was firmly in the Serb's favour, Djokovic dropped serve at 5-5.

Thiem would not blink at the second time of asking. He took big cuts at the ball off both wings en route to closing out a hard-fought five-set win, booking a Roland Garros final rematch with 11-time champion Rafael Nadal.

The loss to Thiem marked Djokovic's first loss in 11 Grand Slam semifinals, as the Serb fell to 29-10 in five setters while Thiem improved to 7-6.