French Open: Rafael Nadal sets sights on seventh title

Published on 09/06/2012 00:47

RAFAEL Nadal is one victory away from a record seventh French Open title after thrashing Andy Murray’s conqueror David Ferrer 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 in the semi-finals at Roland Garros.

The Spaniard has been in awesome form this fortnight and it was no different yesterday, Ferrer simply having no answer to the sustained excellence of his opponent, who is on course to break the record he currently shares with Bjorn Borg.

As well as Ferrer has been playing, dropping only one set on his way to his first French Open semi-final, the odds were heavily in Nadal’s favour. The 26-year-old’s record at Roland Garros going into the match read: played 50, lost one.

Nadal broke serve to love, and then did so again, winning 19 of the last 22 points of the opening set. Ferrer stopped the rot at the start of the second set but Nadal, who was hitting with relentless power and accuracy, stamped his authority on the match once more with four straight games.

There was relief for Ferrer in the shape of a heavy shower, with the players forced off for almost an hour, but Nadal wasted no time wrapping the set up on the resumption. Ferrer, the most dogged of competitors, looked downcast, and things promptly got worse as Nadal broke in the opening game of the third set.

The only relief for Ferrer was that it was soon over, Nadal wrapping up victory in an hour and 46 minutes to move through to a final against either Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer.

Were Nadal to go through the whole tournament without dropping a set, it would be the second time he has achieved the feat after 2008, when he hammered Federer in the final.