It was deja vu for Roger Federer as his return to Roland Garros ended in another clay-court defeat to Rafael Nadal.

The 39th meeting between the two men was played in exceptionally windy conditions, with Nadal handling them better to claim a 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory and reach a 12th final.

It was the first time the pair had met at the French Open since 2011 but this match went the same way as their other previous five.

Federer insisted he was looking forward to the challenge after deciding earlier this year to return to a tournament he had not played since 2015.

The 37-year-old had turned the momentum of their rivalry around with five straight wins, all on hard courts, and had been in fine form this tournament, but this would quickly have felt familiar.

Not that any of their previous encounters were in conditions quite like this because while the threatened rain held off, the wind sent the ball swirling off course off both men's rackets and whipped the clay into their eyes.

"You get to a point where you're just happy to make shots and not look ridiculous," said Federer. "It's that bad.

He asked to speak to supervisor Andreas Egli after going two breaks down in the opening set but his claims the conditions were unplayable fell on deaf ears.

After Thiem finished off the opening set, Djokovic then hit back to level after a brief rain delay but had just gone a break down in the third to trail 6-2 3-6 3-1 when the rain returned.

Just before 6.30pm, play was bizarrely called off for the day despite Philippe Chatrier being bathed in sunshine.

The decision looked even more strange when, more than an hour after play had been called off, it still was not raining, although the weather did deteriorate again after that.

Djokovic and Thiem will resume their contest at midday on Saturday, three hours before the women's final.