Nadal celebrates 22nd birthday with runaway win

Jun 3, 2008, 21:14 GMT

Paris - Rafael Nadal turned 22 in winning style as he crushed fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 to move into a high-profile semi-final at the French Open against Novak Djokovic.

The Serbian third seed booked his place in the final four for the second straight year, beating teenaged tennis academy friend Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5.

Serbia's two women's seed made it a hat-trick for the fast-rising Balkan tennis powerhouse.

Second seed Ana Ivanovic and number three Jelena Jankovic lost just nine games between them in sweeps into the semis.

Ivanovic needed three sets to close it out with a late-match lapse, but recovered quickly to post a defeat of Swiss tenth seed Patty Schnyder 6-3, 6-2.

Jankovic, bothered by arm and neck injuries in previous matches, showed little sign of discomfort over Spanish qualifier Carla Suarez- Navarro 6-2, 6-2 in just over one hour.

Ivanovic, who lost the Paris final a year ago to Justine Henin and was beaten in the Australian Open title match by Maria Sharapova, leads the Serb series 6-1, winning the last five.

'Going out on the court, I knew I had to work hard for every point, because she doesn't give you many free points,' said Ivanovic.

'I did that very well today. Obviously, the score indicates a little bit easier match than it actually was.

'I was just so happy to close match in that last game because it started to rain a bit and I started to rush as well.'

The world number two is think in the chase for a possible shot at the top WTA ranking, with Maria Sharapova trying to hold off Ivanovic, Jankovic and Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Australian Open winner Djokovic reached his fifth career and second straight final four at Roland Garros, where he lost to Nadal a year ago.

'I knew he was going to go for the shots, so I didn't want to make the same rhythm,' said the winner. 'He's very strong, he's very tall.

He has a great serve. He surprised me with the percentage of the first serve. 'I tried to play a bit more patient and more safe in certain moments. But this is not going to be a case in the next match.'

Nadal holds a 7-3 advantage over Djokovic, winning all three of their Grand Slam encounters including two in Paris.

Nadal remained in the devastating form he has shown throughout his career on the Paris clay - now 26-0 - crushing Almagro in one hour, 44 minutes and leaving time for evening birthday celebrations.

'I started out playing well, and stayed in control of the points with my forehand,' said the world number two. 'I also touched the ball better with backhand.'

Nadal said that his easy run so far in Paris is helping his physical conditioning, with even his weeks-long case of blisters on the mend.

'I didn't play really tough matches, so I am in the semi-finals with some easy matches.'

Fourth seed Kuznetsova will face Kaia Kanepi of Estonia after both finished off darkness-interrupted matches from Monday night.