French Open Quarterfinal Results: Nadal Marches On, Djokovic Ousted In Five

Rafael Nadal continued his mastery of Roland Garros in his quarterfinal round, winning a tight match in straight sets -- again -- over fellow Spaniard No. 19 Nicholas Almagro, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4. Nadal has yet to drop a set at the French Open this year, and, indeed, bettors were sanguine about his chances of making it through the fortnight unscathed, setting 7-to-2 odds that he would win without dropping a set -- and that was before Federer and Djokovic were bested.

Nadal will meet No. 22 Jurgen Melzer in the semifinals, after the Austrian mounted a furious five-set comeback over No. 3 Novak Djokovic, 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6, 6-4. Not only did the third-seeded Serb blow a two-sets-to-none lead, but he also went up a break in the third set, seeming to all but secure the victory, before Melzer suddenly reeled off six straight games to stay in the match. Melzer took the fourth set in a tiebreak, and then broke Djokovic at 4-4 in the fifth set and then served out the match.

The 29 year-old Melzer, who had never advanced beyond the third round of a Slam before, figures to be a massive underdog against Nadal on the clay courts of Roland Garros. If everything holds to form in the semifinals, Nadal would meet Robin Soderling in the final, in a rematch of last year’s shocker that saw Nadal suffer his only career loss at Roland Garros.