Rafal: It's always incredible to play here and this is a very special

Spain's Rafael Nadal celebrates his French Open semi-final win over Argentina's Diego Schwartzman yesterday. pic/Getty Images

Twelve-time champion Rafael Nadal reached his 13th French Open final on Friday with a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) win over Argentina's Diego Schwartzman. For Nadal, 34, it was a 99th win at Roland Garros since his 2005 debut and put him just one victory away from equalling Roger Federer's all-time record of 20 Grand Slam titles. He is also into his 28th final at the majors and has not dropped a set in the tournament this year.

'Very special moment'

"It's always incredible to play here and this is a very special moment," said Nadal after the 10th win in 11 matches against Schwartzman who had shocked him in Rome last month. "I played a couple of bad points in the third set but Diego is a very tough player. He probably makes more breaks on the tour than others. It was difficult until the end but it was a positive match for me." Nadal fought off two break points in a marathon 14-minute opening game.

The World No. 2 then broke for 2-0 but Schwartzman retrieved it immediately. It was a brief respite for the 5ft 6in (1.68m) player affectionately known as El Peque (shorty), as he was broken again in the fourth game. Strong Nadal

Strong performance

Nadal was comfortably the stronger, breaking in the third and ninth games for a two sets lead. Schwartzman dropped serve again to go 3-1 down in the third. But he rallied as Nadal slipped into passivity and by the 11th game he was on back on serve although he remonstrated with himself for squandering three break points that would have left him serving for the set. That was his last chance as Nadal stormed through the tiebreaker.

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