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Murray, Nadal eye French Open final spot

News Agencies 9 June 2017, 15:51 IST

Murray, Nadal eye French Open final spot

World number one Andy Murray and fourteen-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal will aim to book their place in the finals of the French Open when they take on their respective opponents in their men's singles last-four clash on 9 June.

Murray stormed into the semi-finals after surviving scare against Japanese eighth-seed Kei Nishikori

2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-0), 6-1 in their thrilling last-eight encounter.

The British tennis maestro, bidding to reach a 12th grand slam final, now faces a daunting task against Swiss third-seed Stan Wawrinka if he wants to reach the French Open summit showdown for the second consecutive year.

Nadal, on the other hand, booked his place in the semi-finals of the French Open for the 10th time after his opponent Pablo Carreno Busta was forced retire during the last eight clash due to an abdominal problem on 7 May.

Nadal , who is bidding for his 10th Roland Garros title, broke his opponent four times in the opening set and was leading 6-2, 2-0 when Carreno Busta was forced to quit just after 51 minutes in the quarter-final clash of the men's singles event.

With the win, Nadal became just the fifth man in the Open era to reach 10 semi-finals at a single Slam after improving his record at Roland Garros to incredible 77 wins.

In the semis, Nadal will now face Austria's sixth seed Dominic Thiem, who knocked out defending champion and world number two Novak Djokovic 7-6, 6-3, 6-0.

Wawrinka, Nadal and Murray in the semi-finals means it is only the third time that three men over the age of 30 years have made it to this stage.

-ANI

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