The British No.2 started well, going toe to toe with Nadal in the opening exchanges and holding his own, but it didn’t take long for the Spaniard to show his quality.

At 3-2, the former World No.1 took the first opportunity that came his way and capitalised on Norrie’s first lapse in the match. Nadal then took a stronghold on the set and didn’t lose another point on serve on his way to securing the lead.

Norrie bounced back straight away at the start of the second, breaking Nadal for only the third and fourth time in the tournament so far. But just as the Brit started to edge ahead, once again the 20-time Grand Slam champion was able to step it up a gear and was clinical on the return. Norrie couldn’t make the advantage pay and eventually Nadal was able to turn the scales in his favour and broke twice to close out the set.

This is the furthest Norrie has ever got at Roland Garros and the World No.45 kept fighting to the end. But there’s a reason why Nadal has only ever lost once in Paris and in the end he just proved too strong on the day.

Norrie leaves the French Open with 25 wins under his belt this season and will be full of confidence heading onto the grass.

Elsewhere, in the mixed doubles, Neal Skupski and Alexa Guarchi march on to the quarter-finals after beating Chian Hao-Ching and John Peers 6-4, 1-6, 10-5. Next up they face third seeds Wesley Koolhof and Demi Schuurs.

Jamie Murray and Bethanie Mattek-Sands were on the losing side of a close match against Juan Sebastian Cabal and Giuliana Olmos, bowing out 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 10-6.

Murray also exited the men’s doubles draw after he and Bruno Soares were defeated by Horia Tecau and Kevin Krawietz 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

In the wheelchair events Alfie Hewett continues on his journey to retain both the singles and doubles titles.

Hewett pulled off a stunning comeback to defeat World No. 2 Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (6) at Roland Garros.

Hewett recovered from 5-1 down in the final set and then fought back from three match points down in the deciding tie-break to repeat his straight sets win over Fernandez in the semi-finals in Paris in October 2020. Hewett will now play World No.1 Shingo Kunieda of Japan in Monday’s final.

In the men’s doubles, Hewett and Gordon Reid then fought back from a set down to clinch a nail-biting decider 2-6, 6-2, 10-8.

Andy Lapthorne missed out on his chance to reach the final in the quad singles – the Brit was defeated by Sam Schroder 6-1, 6-4.