Rafa sets up Federer showdown in French Open semis

TIL Desk Sports/ Rafael Nadal continued his march towards a record-extending 12th French Open title by steamrolling a sorry Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 to book his place in the semi-finals on Tuesday. The second seed, who now has a 91-2 win-loss record at the claycourt Grand Slam, was barely challenged by the seventh-seeded Nishikori as he set up a mouth-wartering last four meeting with 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer.

“It’s unbelievable for me, there’s always so many emotions to come back to the semi-finals here,” Nadal said.”I’m very satisfied with my level in this tournament.” Playing on the back of two consecutive five-set matches, Nishikori never managed to mount any form of a challenge and was easily wiped off court by Nadal.

There was a sense of inevitability when Nadal and Nishikori stepped onto Philippe Chatrier Court. Not only did Nadal have the numbers in his favour, but Nishikori’s game had failed to catch fire since the beginning of the tournament. Considering Nishikori had a 0-4 win-loss record against Nadal on clay, his chances of narrowing that run on Tuesday were slim – and so it proved to be.