French Open: Federer, Nadal set up semifinal showdown

Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer overcame some tough resistance from compatriot Stan Wawrinka to reach the semifinal of the French Open. He will be up against a familiar foe—Rafael Nadal, who demolished Kei Nishikori 6-1 6-1 6-3.

It seemed, at one point, that Wawrinka might repeat the feat he achieved at the same stage four years ago. But Federer managed to outlast the challenge, winning 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4. Federer, 37, is the oldest man to reach the French Open semifinals since Pancho Gonzales in 1968 at 40.

He will meet his nemesis on clay for the 39^th time, with the French Open record favouring Nadal—he has beaten Federer in all five French Open matches.

The Swiss star sailed through his opening four rounds without dropping a set. But Wawrinka, who has recovering admirably from a knee surgery in 2017, fought valiantly for three hours 35 minutes. It was another tiring match for Wawrinka, who entered the quarters after a five-hour marathon against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday.

In a tense final game, Federer wasted one match point with a double-fault but made amends with a volley on his third to reach a record-extending 44th Grand Slam semifinal.

Meanwhile, Nadal took another step towards a record-extending 12th French Open title by steamrolling Nishikori to book his place in the semifinal.

Two consecutive five-set matches seemed to have had taken a toll on Nishikori as he was hardly able to put up a fight against Nadal.

The match was interrupted at 4-2 because of a thunderstorm, but the hour-long delay failed to provide any relief to Nishikori, as Nadal wrapped up the match soon after with his first match point.