Nadal rolls past rival Federer to reach 12th French Open final

PARIS — King of clay Rafael Nadal blew away Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 on a windswept center court on Friday to reach the French Open final for a 12th time, seeking a record dozen titles.

Nadal raised his incredible Roland Garros record to 92-2 in a win that was tighter than the score indicated in their first meeting on Philippe Chatrier court since the 2011 final.

He won on second match point with a service winner in 2 hours 25 minutes against Federer, the 20-time Grand Slam winner who was playing in Paris for the first time since 2015.

If Nadal wins a 12th title he will pass Margaret Court, who won 11 Australian Opens in the 1960s and 70s.

“The semifinals of Roland Garros is not just another match, no?” Nadal said.

“And then have in front probably my biggest rival in my career with all the story that we shared together during all my career, for him during almost all his career with me. So that’s always makes the match a little bit more special and unique.”

But the Spaniard will not find out about his opponent until Saturday because rain on top of gale-force winds forced organizers to halt the second semi, with last year’s runner-up Dominic Thiem leading world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, 6-2, 3-6, 3-1 at the time.

The match is to be completed Saturday morning, ahead of the women’s final set for 3 p.m. local time between Ash Barty and teenager Marketa Vondrousova, who both fought their way into a first career final at the majors earlier Friday.

Eighth-seeded Australian Barty beat American teenage sensation Amanda Anisimova 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-3 after squandering two set points while leading 5-0 in the opening set.

Vondrousova, 19, saved three set points in the first set as the Czech came back from 5-3 down in each set to beat British 26 seed Johanna Konta, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2).