Nadal reaches semi-finals

Defending champion Rafael Nadal bludgeoned bitter Roland Garros rival Robin Soderling to defeat yesterday as the world number one reached the French Open ­semi-finals with a sound 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 victory.

The top seeded Spaniard, hoping to emulate the great Bjorn Borg as a six-time Paris champion, will tackle British fourth seed Andy Murray for a place in the final tomorrow.

Murray charged into the semi-finals for the first time with a 7-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over Argentinian veteran Juan Ignacio Chela.

He is just the second British player to reach the last four in Paris in the Open era (since 1968) after Tim Henman did so in 2004.

It was Nadal’s second successive French Open win over fifth seed Soderling after his victory in the 2010 final had avenged his stunning fourth round defeat to the Swede the year before, still Nadal’s only loss in Paris against 43 wins.

Despite being on the verge of losing his world number one spot to Novak Djokovic, who he could yet meet in Sunday’s title match, Nadal shook off the shackles which had restricted his performances in the earlier rounds.

Soderling, for his part, was undone by 41 unforced errors.

“I played a very tough opponent. I’m happy I’m through to the semis,” said Nadal.

“I was much better than in previous matches. I was more solid and Robin made more mistakes than usual.”

With Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic contesting the other semi-final, it will be the first time since the 2006 French Open that the top four seeds are into the last four in a Grand Slam event.