Nadal breezes through to 13th French Open final

RAFAEL Nadal continued his bid for an unprecedented 13th French Open men’s  singles title on Friday by defeating 12th seed Diego Schwartzman to reach the final.

The No.2 seed had fallen to the Argentinian in his sole clay-court lead-up event, in the Rome quarter-finals, but there was to be no repeat on Court Philippe-Chatrier as he ran out a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(0) winner.

Schwartzman was aiming to become only the third player to beat the 34-year-old twice on clay in one season and after defeating US Open champion Dominic Thiem in five sets in the quarter-finals, his confidence was high.

Nadal, though, had comfortably acclimatised to the Paris conditions, having dropped just 34 games and no sets leading into the semi-final.

The pair had completed just five games in the opening 40 minutes, including three straight breaks, before Nadal went on to serve out a one-set lead after 66 minutes.

It was far smoother sailing for the Spaniard through set No.2 and he looked to be cruising when he broke for 3-1 in the third set. Much like the opening set, however, it triggered a string of breaks – this time four – before the Argentinian pulled back level at 4-all.