Paris: Turning in his finest performance yet at this year's French Open, seven-time champion Rafael Nadal reached the semi-finals with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 victory over ninth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka on Wednesday.
Novak Djokovic too advanced to the semi-finals of the only Grand Slam tournament he is yet to win, beating Tommy Haas 6-3, 7-6 (5), 7-5.
The No. 1-ranked Djokovic's opponent on Friday will be seven-time champion Nadal.
After dropping the first set in each of the first two rounds, Nadal has won 12 sets in a row, looking better and better at Roland Garros, where he now is 57-1.
Not that this result was all that surprising: Nadal improved to 10-0 against Wawrinka and has won all 22 sets they've played.
Nadal reached the 20th Grand Slam semi-final of his career, while preventing Wawrinka from getting to his first. The Spaniard is trying to become the first man to win eight titles at the same Grand Slam tournament.
Djokovic, the winner of six major titles, seeks to become the eighth man to complete a career Grand Slam.
He eased past the 35-year-old Haas, winning 40 of his first 43 service points. Haas found himself on the verge of pulling even at 5-all in the tiebreaker, but Djokovic smacked a backhand winner to end a 24-stroke rally and won the next point as well for a two-set lead. Djokovic reached his 12th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal.
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