Rafael Nadal reacts after beating Stanislas Wawrinka at the French Open, yesterday.

Rafael Nadal’s transformation into claycourt machine was completed yesterday as the seven-times champion bulldozed his way into the French Open semi-finals with a 6-2 6-3 6-1 demolition of Stanislas Wawrinka.

After huffing and puffing through the opening week of the claycourt grand slam, the Spanish third seed was at his awe-inspiring best to set up a meeting with world number one Novak Djokovic in a rematch of last year’s final.

Djokovic, who subdued German 12th seed Tommy Haas in straight sets, beat Nadal in their last clash when the Serbian ended his rival’s eight-year reign at the Monte Carlo Masters in the final in April.

Nadal, who has lost only one match at Roland Garros, marched through the opening set, conceding no break points against a tiring Wawrinka.

The Swiss, who survived a five-set thriller in the previous round, ran out of steam and ideas, bowing out on the first match point after less than two hours.

“Today I played my best match of the tournament, it’s very positive,” a beaming Nadal, who finally enjoyed dry and warm weather conditions, said in a courtside interview.

Wawrinka, who has not taken a set from Nadal in 10 matches, made his only break of the match in the second set, but it came after he had already lost his serve.

The fickle Paris crowd, supporting the ninth seed over their seven-times champion, love nothing more than an upset and they pretended they were smelling one, roaring their support for Wawrinka.

But, the defending champion quickly sealed a second break and Wawrinka struggled to even stay in his slipstream.

Djokovic, on his part, kept calm, cool and collected to beat 35-year-old Haas 6-3 7-6 7-5.

If the world number one still had nightmares about his mauling by Haas just over two months ago in Miami, he hid those fears well yesterday to set up a semi-final blockbuster with Nadal.

“Playing Rafa at Roland Garros is the biggest challenge on clay. I am ready to play five sets,” Djokovic said as he chases the one grand slam trophy missing from his collection.

Sharapova survives

A hail of unforced errors could not melt away Maria Sharapova’s French Open dreams as the Russian kept alive hopes of retaining the title with a 0-6 6-4 6-3 win over Jelena Jankovic in the quarter-finals, yesterday.

Sharapova had entered the contest with a 7-1 win-loss record over her old sparring partner from the Bollettieri Academy but no one would have guessed following her first-set meltdown when 20 unforced errors flew off her racket.

A slight tactical mistake from Jankovic in the opening game of the second set, when she opted to hit the ball at Sharapova rather than go for an outright winner, threw the Serbian off balance and she went on to drop her serve and the set.

That left the 18th-seeded Jankovic to resort to her usual habit of muttering away to herself as Sharapova kept her eye on the ball to break in the seventh game of the third.

A forehand into the tramlines from Jankovic handed Sharapova a place in the semi-finals for the third year running and a date with third-seeded Victoria Azarenka who beat Russian Maria Kirilenko 7-6 6-2.