Thiem in the quarterfinals, ending his 21-match and record 50-set winning streaks on clay. He also relinquished his world No. 1 ranking to Federer in the process. At the Italian Open, Nadal captured his 8th title in the Italian capital as well as his 78th career title, defeating Alexander Zverev in three sets, thus overtaking John McEnroe in the fourth place on the list of most titles won in the Open Era. It was Nadal's 32nd Masters title – most of any player in the Open Era. With his victory in Rome, Nadal also regained the No. 1 spot from Federer. Then at the French Open, Nadal won his 17th Grand Slam title. This tied Margaret Court's record for singles titles at a Grand Slam event (Court won 11 Australian Opens, but seven came when it was the Australian Championships, an amateur event). En route to the title, Nadal dropped only one set, beating Dominic Thiem in the final in three sets. Nadal became just the fourth man in the Open Era to win three or more major titles after turning 30. Going into Wimbledon, Nadal was ranked world number one, but was seeded second due to Wimbledon's seeding algorithm. He made it to the quarterfinals without dropping set. He then faced #5 seed Juan Martín del Potro, who he defeated in five sets. In the semifinals he faced long-time rival Novak Djokovic, who was aiming to reach his first major final since the 2016 US Open. This match lasted 5 hours and 17 minutes, spread over two days, becoming the second-longest Wimbledon semifinal in history, second only to the match between Kevin Anderson and John Isner held earlier on the same day. Djokovic defeated Nadal in five sets with the fifth set being 10–8. This was Nadal's first defeat in the semifinals of a major since the 2009 US Open, and his first-ever defeat in the semifinals of Wimbledon. Despite this, Nadal achieved his best results at Wimbledon since 2011. This performance, combined with Roger Federer's unsuccessful title defence, ensured that Nadal retained the world number one ranking after the grass season. He then won the Rogers Cup, a record-extending 33rd Masters title. This was Nadal's first Masters title win on hard court since 2013. He then withdrew from the Cincinnati Masters to prepare for the US Open. Nadal was the top seed during his title defence at the