Dominic Thiem has beaten world No.1 Novak Djokovic 6-2 3-6 7-5 5-7 7-5 to meet the King of Clay Rafael Nadal in a second straight French Open final between the pair.
Thiem, 25, prevailed in four hours and 13 minutes of net play on third match point with a forehand winner.
The match was stopped owing to adverse weather in the third set Friday and interrupted because of rain Saturday in the fifth set.
The defeat ended Djokovic's bids to hold all four grand-slam titles at the same time for the second time in his career and to become the first man in the Open era to win every major twice, as well as ending a run of 10 grand-slam semi-final wins in a row for the Serb.
Thiem, 25, lost last year's final in straight sets to Nadal. The 11-time champion from Spain advanced Friday against 20-time grand-slam-title winner Roger Federer 6-3 6-4 6-2.
Nadal has never lost a French Open final and leads the series with Thiem 8-4, but Thiem beat him recently en route to the Barcelona Open trophy.
"I think all the time, if someone reaches the final, it's against Rafa. It was an amazing experience last year. He is the favourite, of course - it is his 12th final and my second," Thiem said.
"I'll leave everything on the court."
The start of the women's decider between Australia's Ashleigh Barty and Czech was delayed by some 90 minutes because Thiem and Djokovic took a long time to complete their match.
Thiem lost the 3-1 overnight advantage when play resumed Saturday in still very windy conditions but went up two sets to one with a return winner in the 12th game.
Thiem double-fault gave Djokovic the deciding break for 6-5 to force a fifth set.
Djokovic quickly trailed 4-1 before rain forced the players off court for an hour.
He saved two break points in the sixth game and two match points in the eighth in a comeback to 5-5, but Thiem then won on his third chance with a forehand winner.
Thiem then squandered two match points at 5-3 and lost the game with four unforced errors in a row as Djokovic roared back to 5-5.
But Thiem then held serve to love for 6-5 and wrapped up matters on his third opportunity in the next game.
"I was in the semis with the three best players in the world. To beat one of them is always unbelievable," Thiem said.
"It is never easy to go on and off [court]. But we are used to that. If you win, you are happy."
