Djokovic, Nadal set up French Open final showdown

Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic will meet again in a French Open final after scoring comfortable victories here Friday over Andy Murray and Ernests Gulbis, respectively.

Nadal, an eighttime champion at Roland Garros, played his best match of this year’s event to dismantle the Scotsman 63, 62, 61 in the second semifinal, hitting 24 winners to his opponent’s 11 and making just 15 unforced errors compared to 26 for Murray.

The world No. 1 was ruthlessly efficient on serve and did not face a single break point in the entire match, while Murray won less than half of his overall service points and was broken on six occasions.

In an oncourt interview afterward, Nadal who delighted the crowd in Court Philippe Chatrier by trying to speak some French acknowledged that he played at a high level on Friday but said he will have to play his best tennis to “have any chances” in Sunday’s final against the Serbian world No. 2.

In the first match on Court Philippe Chatrier, Djokovic cruised to a twoset lead with an efficient performance, committing just 12 unforced errors over the first two sets.

But the second half of the match was more complicated for Djokovic, who struggled with the heat and also had to deal with a higher level of play from the Latvian.

Djokovic, looking visibly fatigued, lost the third set but an early service break in the fourth got him back on track for the 63, 63, 36, 63 victory.

The 28yearold Nadal holds a 2219 edge overall against Djokovic and has a 134 edge on clay. He also has a mindboggling 651 record at the French Open the only loss coming in 2009 at the hands of Sweden’s Robin Soderling and extended his record for consecutive match wins at Roland Garros to 34 with Friday’s semifinal win.

But since the start of the 2011 season, the Serbian has significantly narrowed the gap between the two players on Nadal’s favorite surface.

He barely lost in five sets in last year’s French Open semifinals and defeated Nadal in the final of this year’s Rome Masters.

The two also squared off in the 2012 French Open final, which Nadal won in four sets.

The 27yearold Djokovic will try on Sunday to capture his seventh Grand Slam singles title and the only one of the four major tournaments that has eluded him thus far in his career.

Nadal is seeking his 14th Grand Slam title, which would tie him with American great Pete Sampras and put him three shy of Roger Federer’s record haul of 17 major titles.