French Open 2017: Rafael Nadal advances to finals after win over Dominic Thiem

A 10th French Open title is within reach for Rafael Nadal, as he advanced to the finals with a dominant win over Dominic Thiem in the semifinals on Friday. Nadal looked great in the straight-set victory, winning, 6-3, 6-4, 6-0.

Nadal, 31, came into the tournament as the favorite and fourth seed. He’s found more success on the clay than any player in history. But Thiem, a young player and the sixth seed, was a popular pick among experts to finally win his first Grand Slam prior to the start of play at Roland Garros.

Thiem is also dominant on clay, and he dropped Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, in straight sets in the quarterfinals. But he had no answers for Nadal on Friday, falling in straight sets.

Nadal will go on to the final where he’ll face Stan Wawrinka, the third seed who made it past Andy Murray in his semifinal match on Friday. Wawrinka and Murray, the top seed, battled for five sets before Wawrinka came out the winner.

Thiem faced an early break attempt with Nadal having a triple-break opportunity. Thiem fought all the way back to deuce but eventually dropped the break anyway. Nadal held throughout the remainder of the set and took it without much issue, going up with a 6-3 win.

That first set saw Nadal win on 75 percent of his second serves.

The second set was more competitive than the first, with Thiem nearly scoring an early break over Nadal. But Nadal fought it off and threatened a break of his own on the following Thiem service game, eventually getting it and going up to 2-1 in the second set.

From there he was on cruise control, winning nine out of 12 second serves and hitting nine winners. He converted on two of five break point attempts and wound up taking the second set at 6-4. The third set was all Nadal, and he didn’t lose a single game to Thiem in the frame.