French Open: Clay King Nadal to fight it out with Ferrer in semis; Sharapova too in last four

Clay King Rafael Nadal makes semis without dropping a set; notches 50th win in Paris, says a report in Hindustan Times. Rafael Nadal defeated fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the French Open semi-finals without dropping a single set. It was the 50th win for Nadal at the spiritual home of claycourt tennis since he first competed here as an 18-year-old in 2005.

“His only defeat came in the fourth round in 2009 when he lost to Robin Soderling of Sweden in a fourth round match. This year Nadal is bidding to become the first player to win seven French Open titles, moving him out of a tie with Swedish legend Bjorn Borg. A win on Sunday would also be his 11th Grand Slam title, level with Borg and Rod Laver. In the end Almagro went the way of so many others over the course of the last seven years, but he gave a solid account of himself especially in a hotly-disputed first set.

This year Nadal is bidding to become the first player to win seven French Open titles, moving him out of a tie with Swedish legend Bjorn Borg. A win on Sunday would also be his 11th Grand Slam title, level with Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver.

Meanwhile, Sixth seeded David Ferrer advanced to the men's semifinals upsetting fourth seed Andy Murray 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-2. He will play second seed and six-time champion Rafael Nadal, who moved into the last four defeating Nicolas Almagro 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-3.

According to a report in The Hindu, World No.2 Maria Sharapova reached her third Roland Garros semifinal on Wednesday, defeating Estonia's Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 6-3 to take another step closer to a career Grand Slam. Fourth seed Petra Kvitova joined Sharapova in the semifinals with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova.

On another chilly, gloomy day in the French capital, Sharapova and Kanepi, who made the quarterfinals in 2008, exchanged breaks in the first two games before the Russian picked up two more in the third and seventh games.

Kanepi, the 23rd seed, saved two set points in the eighth game, but was powerless on the third when Sharapova unleashed a fierce serve down the middle which the Estonian could only deflect into the stands.

The start of the second set was just as untidy as the first, with the world No.2 giving up a break to slip 2-0 down on a fourth double fault and then retrieving it immediately in the next to trail 2-1.

Kanepi, who put out former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the third round, was quickly another break down while a Sharapova hold to love gave the Russian a 4-2 lead.