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World number one Rafael Nadal has marched into the French open 2018 championship final.
The Spaniard master of clay routed No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 on Friday to improve to 11-0 in French Open semifinal matches.
The No. 1-seeded Spaniard, who has lost just one set in his march to the final, looks forward to a record-extending 11th title -- and 17th major overall against Dominic Thiem on Sunday.
Thiem, the No. 7 seed, reached his first Grand Slam final by ending the surprise run of 72nd-ranked Marco Cecchinato of Italy with a powerful 7-5, 7-6 (10), 6-1 victory Friday.
The 24-year-old Austrian is the only man to defeat Nadal on clay this season, and his three wins against Nadal on the surface over his career is tied for second behind Novak Djokovic (7). Nadal is 49-0 against everyone else on the surface over the last two years.
Nadal compiled a 35-20 edge in winners while making only 19 unforced errors against del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion.
This was the No. 5-seeded del Potro's first semifinal match at Roland Garros since 2009. He missed the tournament every year from 2013-16 because of injuries, including three operations on his left wrist.
After beating Alex Zverev in the quarter, Dominic Thiem is trying to become just the fourth men's player in the Open Era to beat the top two seeds at the French Open. Stan Wawrinka (2015), Sergi Bruguera (1993) and Mats Wilander (1985) also did it.
In his third consecutive appearance in the final four at Roland Garros, Thiem finally got to face someone other than eventual champions Nadal (2017) or Novak Djokovic (2016), and he took full advantage.
This time, Thiem faced Cecchinato, a 25-year-old from Sicily who never had won a Grand Slam match until this tournament and was the lowest-ranked men's semifinalist at the clay-court major in 19 years. Cecchinato was accused of match-fixing and suspended for 18 months in 2016, but he appealed, and his punishment was dropped on a technicality.
Courtesy of the Associated Press.
