Rafael Nadal defeated fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-3 yesterday to reach the French Open semi-finals without dropping a single set.

It was the 50th win for Nadal at the spiritual home of claycourt tennis since he first competed in Paris as an 18-year-old in 2005.

Nadal will play another countryman, David Ferrer, the sixth seed who dashed Andy Murray’s hopes of ending Britain’s 76-year wait for a Grand Slam men’s champion when he beat him 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-2.

The other semi-final for tomorrow has already been set, with Novak Djokovic taking on Roger Federer.

This year Nadal is bidding to become the first player to win seven French Open titles, moving him out of a tie with Swedish legend Bjorn Borg.

A win on Sunday would also be his 11th Grand Slam title, level with Borg and Rod Laver.

In the end, Almagro went the way of so many others over the course of the last seven years, but he gave a solid account of himself especially in a hotly-disputed first set.

Almagro also did well to hold firm till the fourth game of the second set, but then finally crumbled on serve in the face of another assault from Nadal’s hammer-blows.

Nadal took the first game of the third set before rain stopped play for a few minutes.

The axe fell on Almagro shortly after as Nadal broke him in the seventh game and then served out for the win.

Nadal’s drive into the final four has come at the cost of just 30 games.

Ferrer reached his first Roland Garros semi-final.

“It will be a tough match against Rafa, he’s the best in history on this surface, but I hope to have a good match,” said Ferrer.

Murray, bidding to reach a second successive French Open semi-final yesterday, comfortably matched his opponent in the gruelling, big-hitting rallies, but was finally undone by 59 unforced errors.