NADAL DOMINATES FEDERER TO WIN FRENCH OPEN SEMI-FINAL
AFP - Defending champion Rafael Nadal powered past Roger Federer in the French Open semi-finals yesterday, to move within one victory of a record-extending 12th Roland Garros title after handing his ‘biggest rival’ his worst Grand Slam defeat in 11 years.
The 33-year-old produced a masterful performance to get past Federer 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in the last four on Court Philippe Chatrier and set up a final clash with either world number one Novak Djokovic or Austrian fourth seed Dominic Thiem on Sunday.
The second semi-final was suspended until Saturday due to rain, with Thiem leading 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 as he looks to reach a second straight Roland Garros final.
It will be Nadal’s 12th appearance in the championship match, which he has never lost before.
The third seed now has an stunning 92-2 win-loss record on the Paris clay, having beaten Federer for the sixth time in as many French Open meetings despite difficult, windy conditions.
Nadal also leads his overall headto-head against Federer 24-15, and 14-2 on clay after ending a run of five straights losses to the 37-year-old.
He could also move to within two of Federer on the all-time Grand Slam title winners’ list with an 18th major on Sunday.
A tally of just nine games meant it was Federer’s heaviest defeat in a Grand Slam match since managing only four against Nadal in their famously one-sided 2008 Roland Garros final.
Nadal made only 19 unforced errors, crushing 33 winners as Federer struck 25, although that amount could easily have been doubled against any opponent other than the 11-time champion.
The defeat leaves Federer still waiting for a first victory over Nadal on clay since 10 years ago in Madrid.
It was 2009 champion Federer’s first French Open campaign since 2015, after skipping the clay-court season for two years in order to be better prepared for Wimbledon.
Meanwhile, Thiem would have been the happier of the two to resume playing, leading by a break in the third set after sharing the opening two with Djokovic.
The pair will instead restart their
match at 12:00 local time today, before the Women’s final between Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova and Australian eighth seed Ashleigh Barty.
Thiem had caught Djokovic cold in the opening set, dealing better with the weather as the wind increased in velocity after Nadal’s win.
The 25-year-old, playing in his fourth straight semi-final in Paris, dominated at the start as Djokovic repeatedly complained about the conditions, calling the supervisor onto court to discuss the ‘extreme wind’ rules.