Ruthless Rafael Nadal punishes Juan Martin del Potro in semi-final

They will play each other Friday, when the other men’s semifinal is No. 7 Dominic Thiem of Austria against 72nd-ranked Marco Cecchinato of Italy.

The No. 1-seeded Spaniard, who has lost just one set in his march to the final, will look to capture a record-extending 11th title – and 17th major overall – on Court Philippe-Chatrier against Dominic Thiem on Sunday.

And Del Potro, who failed to convert any of his seven break points before his challenge petered out, believes Nadal is in a league of his own.

Nadal struck 34 winners and Schwartzman racked up 64 unforced errors as the “King of Clay” joined Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer in becoming the only men to reach 11 semifinals in the same major in the Open Era.

“It’s impossible without hard work and going through tough moments”.

“Still, I know how to play against him”.

“Today is a day to rejoice”, Rafael Nadal, right, said of advancing to his 11th French Open final.

“Thiem beat me in Madrid this year and played with big power”.

With his good run at Roland Garros, Del Potro is now guaranteed to return to the top four in the rankings for the first time in more than four years.

To get a shot to defeat Nadal on clay, Thiem had to first get past an improbable semifinalist, No. 72 Marco Cecchinato, which no one else had managed to do at this edition of Roland Garros.

In addition to his physicality, his stamina, his will, his rocketed shots, his left-handedness, his diabolical spin and his rare capacity to take a mid-rally predicament and reverse it into some kind of optical illusion of a victor, Rafael Nadal has this curious knack that continues to wreak a living hell for opponents even 14 French Opens into his career: his humility.

Both Nadal and Del Potro will be short on rest, so nobody has the advantage there.

Del Potro missed another chance at 2-0 in the second set and from that point there was only going to be one victor.

Croatian Cilic played an bad game when serving for the set, making four unforced errors, but he was gifted another chance to serve for the set after breaking Del Potro again and levelled the match at the second time of asking. “I saved two set points and luckily I won it”.

Nadal was a heavy favorite Friday due to his dominance on clay over the years, but he still managed to raise some eyebrows by making Del Potro look ordinary.

“I’m facing Rafa so I’m not the one who has the pressure”, said Thiem.

“I came here without big expectations, just seeing how my body feels match by match. He deserved to win”.

World 72 Cecchinato had knocked out three seeded players to reach the semi-finals, including 12-time major victor Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals. I think this is too good of an opportunity for Thiem to pass up. “I don’t know if I will win, but I will take big love from you and that’s most important for me”.

“Rafa is playing every point better from the beginning until the last point of the match, and his intensity grows during the match”, explained Del Potro. That said, Thiem has already been at a high level for a long time and he’ll be used to this situation. It may sound easy and logical, but I don’t want it to be.

“Not a very nice feeling”, Thiem said.