PARIS (AP) The four best players in the world have all reached the men's semifinals at the French Open, and they all have plenty to play for on Friday.
Five-time champion Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray joined Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the penultimate round on Wednesday, both winning in straight sets.
Six semifinals here in Roland Garros,'' said Nadal, who beat two-time finalist Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (3).Easy to say, very difficult to do.''
This year marks only the 12th time in the Open era that the top four seeded players have made the semifinals at a Grand Slam tournament, and first since the 2006 French Open.
On Thursday, Maria Sharapova is to play Li Na in the women's semifinals, while defending champion Francesca Schiavone is to face Marion Bartoli. The winners will meet in Saturday's final.
The men will have a day off before they get back on court. But when they do, the stakes will be high for all of them.
Nadal is trying to equal Bjorn Borg's record of six French Open titles, while semifinal opponent Murray will be looking for his first Grand Slam championship after three runner-up finishes. For Federer, it's a chance to make himself a double career Grand Slam winner and add to his record 16 major titles.
But Djokovic, with a 41-0 record in 2011 and a 43-match winning streak dating to last year's David Cup final, may have the most on the line. Besides those streaks, Djokovic can also assure himself of taking over the No. 1 ranking from Nadal by beating Federer, the 2009 champion.
On Court Philippe Chatrier on Wednesday, defending champion Nadal faced the only man who has ever beaten him at Roland Garros. But just like in last year's final, Nadal didn't give Soderling a chance, making only 13 unforced errors in the entire match.
Today I found a lot of solutions,'' said Nadal, who is 43-1 at the clay-court major.(There are) no secrets in this sport. Only try your best every day and try to enjoy it, suffering sometimes.''
Soderling was the one left hurting Wednesday.
The fifth-seeded Swede not only eliminated Nadal from the tournament two years ago, but he did the same to Federer last year. But this time, the wind hurt him more than his booming forehand could help.
It's always difficult to play when it's windy, but it's the same for both players,'' said Soderling, who landed only 57 percent of his first serves.In the beginning it was tough to serve really well. I think first two sets was pretty windy, and then it got a little bit easier, a little bit calmer in the third set.''
Nadal played emotionless tennis throughout the match, concentrating on every point. But at least one fan was concentrating squarely on him.
Rafa ganador, kiss me por favor'' (Rafa you winner, kiss me please''), one woman wrote on a sign.
Nadal started the tournament with a five-set win over John Isner. Since then, he has not dropped a set.
Fantastic result,'' Nadal said, noting his improvement since the first round.Today I was ready to beat the No. 5 of the world and two-times finalist in this tournament. We will see what's going on next round.''
Murray will be the man standing on the other side of the net on Friday.
The fourth-seeded Briton beat Juan Ignacio Chela 7-6 (2), 7-5, 6-2 and doesn't appear to be feeling any ill effects despite tearing a tendon in his right ankle in the third round.
It's definitely getting better with each day and more sort of playing a match on it,'' Murray said.I still, at times, wasn't moving great. ... Nothing major, but I just need to, in the next couple of days, do all the right things again.''