Rafael Nadal seems to be in a hurry to win his tenth French Open title as he eased past Dominic Thiem in straight sets, winning 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 on Friday. This has been Nadal's story so far in the competition, winning matches with ridiculous ease.
Ever since the clay court season started all eyes have been on Nadal as he was expected to dominate all the tournaments and the Spaniard has done just that. Prior to the start of the French Open, Nadal won the Monte Carlo Masters, the Barcelona Open and the Madrid Open and now he is just one win away from his 10th Roland Garros title.
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Thiem managed to break Nadal on his very first serve to make it 1-0 but the nine time champion turned things around immediately. He broke back on Thiem's first serve and went on to break him again to make it 3-1 before taking the first set 6-3 quite easily.
Nadal once again quickly broke Thiem in the second set to lead 3-1 and won the set 6-4 and he did not waste any time in wrapping up the third set as he completely demolished the Austrian in the final set as he won 6-0.
With this win, the Spaniard has set a finals date with 2015 French Open champion Stan Wawrinka. At 32 years and 75 days, the Swiss tennis star became the oldest finalist at the Roland Garros since Nikola Pilic in 1973.
Wawrinka defeated world no.1 Andy Murray in a marathon five-setter which lasted 4 hours and 34 minutes. The world no.3 won 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 5-7 7-6 (7-3) 6-1.
After his win Wawrinka said: "With this sort of atmosphere and crowd, it was amazing to play. I know I was dominating even though I was down two sets to one. I dominated the first set and I should have won the third. Andy makes it so difficult for you. It's incredible to be back in the finals again. I'm going to try my best. It's not every day you make a final."
The Swiss is set to target his second title here at Paris but despite proving to be one of the better players in the French Open this year and dropping just two sets so far a second title might prove to be too difficult against Nadal.
We are into the sixth month of the season, but this final will be their first head-to-head encounter of 2017. And Based on current form and past meetings between the two, Nadal is the clear favourite and should win his tenth title on Sunday.
Nadal has met Wawrinka on 18 previous occasions, and the Spaniard has dominated the Swiss, winning 15. Nadal has been superior on the red surface too. They have played six times on clay court and Nadal has won five, with his latest victory coming in 2016 Monte Carlo Masters.
Even if we ignore their past encounters and just look at their current form, Nadal has a far better record than the Swiss. Nadal has reached six finals this year, winning three of them while Wawrinka has only managed to reach two finals, and won one title only.
Nadal has stormed past all his opponents in the French Open so far without dropping a set. Overall, the Spaniard has just dropped 29 games leading up to the final and is yet to be tested in Paris.
Everyone thought Thiem might push Nadal to his limit after he defeated the Spaniard at the Italian Open, but the King of clay was not troubled and cruised to victory on Friday.
If Nadal plays anywhere close to what he has been playing this clay court season, Nadal should claim his 10th French Open.
