Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem to contest clay-court crown in French Open final

Nadal, who is chasing his 11th French Open title, crushed Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-1, 6-2, while Thiem beat Marco Cecchinato 7-5, 7-6, 6-1

The Spaniard celebrates securing his place in Sunday's final (Getty)

Chances to put Rafael Nadal in trouble at Roland Garros come only rarely and Juan Martin del Potro was left regretting his failure to take his big opportunity here on Friday.

During a pulsating first set of their semi-final Del Potro failed to convert three set points at 1-1, three more at 4-4 and was immediately made to pay the price. Nadal held serve in that ninth game, broke in the next to take the opening set and won 14 of the last 17 games to win 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 and put himself within one victory of winning the title here for the 11thtime.

“That was my chance of the match,” Del Potro admitted afterwards. “It could have been a different match if I had won the first set, but then he made me run a lot. His intensity was too high for me throughout and I couldn’t stay with him after the first set. He deserved to win. He played much better from the beginning till the end. He played a great match.”

In Sunday’s final Nadal will face Dominic Thiem, who has been the world’s second best clay-court player over the last two years. The 24-year-old Austrian, who is the only player to have beaten Nadal on the Spaniard’s favourite surface since the summer of 2016, ended the remarkable run of Marco Cecchinato, beating the 25-year-old Italian 7-5, 7-6, 6-1.

Nadal’s ultimately comprehensive victory brought an anti-climactic end to what had promised to be a memorable afternoon. Del Potro was playing in his first semi-final here for nine years while Nadal was aiming to preserve his unblemished record in his 11th semi-final on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Throughout the first set the atmosphere in the stadium was as hot as the sun that shone brightly out of a clear blue sky. Del Potro’s return to the top after so many years battling injuries has captured the hearts of tennis fans the world over. Nadal may have won this title 10 times, but the majority of the crowd seemed to be behind the Argentinian.

Del Potro made an excellent start, holding his serve to love at the first attempt with some big hitting and then going 40-0 up in Nadal’s second service game. However, the Spaniard levelled to deuce and then went to game point with a wrong-footing forehand winner that left Del Potro leaning over his racket in pain after twisting his hips.

At the end of the game the world No 6 grimaced despairingly towards his entourage and at the changeover two games later he sent for the trainer and doctor, who gave him some medication.

Nadal has appeared all but unstoppable for most of this clay-court season (Getty)

However, Del Potro refused to blame his subsequent defeat on any physical issues. “I just did a bad movement with my hip at the beginning of the match, but it was nothing dangerous,” he insisted afterwards. “I finished the match. I ran everywhere. I finished in good shape. I’m healthy.”

It would certainly have been hard to conclude that Del Potro was struggling from his tennis in the rest of the first set. With both men striking the ball superbly there were some excellent rallies, the thunderous stroke-making interrupted only by some delightful drop shots by Nadal.

At 4-4, to huge roars from the crowd, Del Potro went 40-15 up on Nadal’s serve, but a drop shot winner by the Spaniard and a mishit forehand by the Argentinian kept the defending champion in the game. After another shanked forehand on a third break point in the game Nadal finally held serve with a scorching backhand cross-court winner and another deft drop shot.

That proved to be Del Potro’s high point. In the following game Nadal created two set points with a forehand winner after cleverly opening up the court and converted the second of them when Del Potro netted a backhand.

By the time Nadal had broken to love in the second game of the second set it was clear that the world No 1 was hitting top gear. Del Potro lost five games in a row en route to losing the second set, while the third set took just 34 minutes.

“It was a good second and third set for me, of course, and a good hold in the first,” Nadal said afterwards. “Good tactic and mentality in the first set, of course, and that gave me the possibility to play much better later on in the match.”

Del Potro had the crowd’s backing but was unable to deliver (Getty)

The Spaniard said that a combination of his own under-par serving and Del Potro’s big serves and ground strokes had caused him major problems in the opening set.

“In every game that I served, I had problems,” Nadal said. “When he’s serving, it’s not in my hands. When I’m serving, it should be in my hands.”

Thiem has been the king-of-clay-in-waiting for the last two years and will finally have a chance to make a claim to the crown. The 24-year-old Austrian went out in the semi-finals here in 2016 and 2017, losing to the eventual champion – Novak Djokovic and Nadal – on both occasions. The world No 8 will become only the second Austrian to play in a Grand Slam final, Thomas Muster having won the title here in 1995.

Cecchinato, who had already knocked out three seeds in Pablo Carreno Busta, David Goffin and Djokovic, was attempting to become the lowest ranked finalist here for 19 years and the first Italian man to play in a Grand Slam singles final for 42 years, but this was a challenge too far for the world No 72.

Thiem, hitting the ball with his customary precision and power, was relentless. If he was not pulling the Italian from one side of the court to the other he was mixing up his game with some delicate angles and drop shots.

Dominic Thiem in action against his Italian opponent (Getty)

For two sets, nevertheless, Cecchinato made a fight of it. He retrieved an early break in the opening set but dropped serve again when Thiem played an excellent game at 5-5.

The second set was tight and was decided by a dramatic tie-break. Thiem went 6-3 up but lost the next four points. At 6-4 he had the chance to put away an easy volley only to put the ball in the net. Thiem had to save three set points and had failed to take four of his own until Cecchinato’s missed forehand saw the Austrian win the tie-break 12-10.

That seemed to knock the confidence out of Cecchinato, who went 5-0 down in the third set before finally getting on the board. The Italian had two break points in the next game, but Thiem saved them both and went on to convert his first match point with a forehand winner.

Thiem said afterwards that the second set tie-break had been crucial. “He felt all the matches from these two weeks after that,” Thiem said. “If he had won the tie-break, he would have been full power, for sure, in the third set.”