FRENCH OPEN ROUND UP - Nadal sets up mouthwatering French Open semi-final with Djokovic, Azarenka ends Kirilenko dream to clinch a date with Sharapova in the Semis

Rafael Nadal will play Novak Djokovic in a blockbuster semi-final at the French Open after a crushing 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 win over Stanislas Wawrinka.

The seven-time champion had struggled through the first week, dropping sets to Daniel Brands and Martin Klizan, but it was a different player who took to Court Philippe Chatrier on Wednesday.

Nadal had looked in much better nick against Kei Nishikori on Monday and he continued in the same vein, with the warm weather helping his heavily top-spinned shots fizz off the clay.

There was always the feeling it could be one match too many for Wawrinka, who has been struggling with a thigh problem and played for more than four hours in beating Richard Gasquet two days ago.


That was one of the best matches of the season, as was his agonising five-set defeat against Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, but things went wrong from the start on Wednesday.

Wawrinka's tactic was to try to get this first strike in but he was misfiring off his forehand in particular and won only one of the first six games.

When the ninth seed missed a backhand to go set point down on his own serve, he smashed his racket with such ferocity that he almost broke the head clean off.

 

It did the trick as he nailed a backhand winner down the line to hold on, but Nadal quickly wrapped up the set and then broke again in the third game of the second set.

Wawrinka's radar was working a little better now and he levelled at 3-3 when Nadal pushed a forehand wide but that only fired up the Spaniard even more and he reeled off three straight games to take the set.

Wawrinka at least denied his opponent a love set by holding for 5-1 in the third, but it was only the briefest of delays for the champion, who can expect a much sterner test from Djokovic.

Top seed Novak Djokovic overcame a late wobble to claim his place in the French Open semi-finals with an ultimately convincing defeat of Tommy Haas.

The Serbian was outstanding on serve as he powered his way to a 6-3 7-6 7-5 quarter-final victory that ended the fairytale run of German veteran Haas on Court Suzanne Lenglen at Roland Garros.

Haas, the 12th seed, produced some defiance in the second and third sets but could only delay Djokovic's march towards an eagerly-anticipated last-four showdown with Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic has now reached the semi-finals in his last 12 major tournaments.

The favourite began impressively, powering through his own service games and breaking former world No 2 Haas twice in quick succession to take the opening set in 30 minutes.

Djokovic showed no let-up in the second set but Haas knee grazed after diving on court, had no intention of surrendering easily and tried to match his opponent.

He forced a tie-break in which he led 4-2 but Djokovic responded to move two sets ahead.

Djokovic then broke early in the third and looked to have victory in sight but Haas surprisingly broke straight back to level at 2-2.

Djokovic showed frustration after a series of deuces with the score at 3-3 but the job looked to be done as he eventually broke again and earned a match point in Haas' next service game.

 

But Haas found another gear to not only survive but break back and level the set at 5-5.

Djokovic began to look erratic but Haas could not maintain his new-found momentum and was broken back. With a second chance to serve for the match Djokovic made no mistake.

Defending champion Maria Sharapova kept her hopes of back-to-back French Open titles alive after recovering from a horrible first set to beat Jelena Jankovic and reach the semi-finals.

The two have known each other since their junior days at Nick Bolletieri's academy in Florida and Sharapova had dominated their previous meetings.

But she failed to win a game in the first set today and needed to show all her fighting qualities to come through 0-6, 6-4, 6-3.

 Sharapova had reached the last eight without dropping a set but Jankovic in the form she has shown this fortnight was a step up from any of her previous opponents.

The Serb was ranked No 1 in the world after reaching the US Open final in 2008 but has been sliding ever since and had not reached a grand slam quarter-final since making the last four here three years ago.

Jankovic has had a decent clay-court season, though, and served notice of her potential at Roland Garros with a third-round win over Sam Stosur.

But not in her wildest dreams could she have imagined winning the first set today without dropping a game.

Jankovic played very well, hitting her shots with real zip and serving intelligently, but Sharapova was all over the place.

The second seed made 20 unforced errors in six games, finding the net and tramlines more often than the court and looking thoroughly flustered as the games ticked by.

It was only the fourth set at a grand slam that Sharapova had lost to love and she knew she needed a quick response.

She got it in the opening game of the second set as Jankovic double-faulted to help Sharapova on to the scoreboard, and it proved to be the turning point. She won four of the next five games but it was still a struggle and Jankovic pulled back to 5-4 before Sharapova finally clinched the set.

The Serb was not going away but Sharapova is one of the game's great fighters and the decibel levels increased as she sought the final-set breakthrough.

It came in the seventh game of the set, and two games later Sharapova threw her arms in the air as a Jankovic forehand drifted wide.

In the semi-finals Sharapova will meet third seed Victoria Azarenka, who has now made the last four at every grand slam after defeating 12th seed Maria Kirilenko 7-6 (7/3), 6-2.

The former world number one from Belarus, seeded third at Roland Garros, put her friendship with Kirilenko aside to end the Russian 12th seed's resilience after nearly two hours on a sun-soaked Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Quizzed on her feelings about playing on clay, Azarenka said: "I still don't have any ring on my finger.

"But I feel like we made a step forward. We are moving in together. Kind of that type of a relationship is moving forward and see what happens after."