French Open: Andy Murray sets up clash with Rafael Nadal in Semi finals

Paris: Eight-time champion Rafael Nadal defeated compatriot David Ferrer as well as the Paris gloom on Wednesday to reach his ninth French Open semifinal where he will face Wimbledon champion Andy Murray.

The World No.1 recovered from dropping his first set of the tournament to record a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, 6-1. Wednesday’s win took the 28-year-old Nadal’s record in Paris to 64 victories and just one loss and extended his mastery over his 32-year-old Spanish Davis Cup teammate to 22 victories against just six defeats. He did it in some style, reeling off 13 of the last 14 games before the sun set.

“When you play David on any surface, it’s always tough and he’s having a great season,” said Nadal of a man who beat him in Monte Carlo in April, one of three losses the top seed suffered on European clay this spring in a 10-year low.

“But I was more aggressive after the first set and maybe he did not have the best of matches as it went on,” the defending champion said.
He added, “I was making too many mistakes with my backhand, it was appalling. But when I used my forehand more, it changed the dynamic.”
Ferrer was left to regret another lost opportunity.

After losing the first set, firing twice as many errors against the man he defeated for the loss of just eight games in last year's final, the world number one carved the only break of the second to level the contest.

In the other men’s quarterfinal match Andy Murray defeated the last French hope Gael Monfils on a rowdy Philippe Chatrier centre court Wednesday to reach the French Open semi-finals 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 1-6, 6-0.

With bad light threatening to stop play and a rock concert-like crowd cheering every Monfils winner and even every Murray mistake, the Briton turned in a stellar, 24-minute fifth set to snatch victory.

“It was very tough out there, I first played against Gael (Monfils) when we were about 10 or 11 in Rouen which is just a few miles from here but he’s a very good friend,” said Murray.

“The conditions were tough, it was very windy and slow, heavy and he moves so well around the court, probably the best of anyone on the Tour,” Murray added.

The Wimbledon champion reaches the last four at Roland Garros for the first time since 2011 when he lost against Rafael Nadal, and now faces the eight-time champion again in a bid to reach the championship match for the first time in Paris.