Sharapova and Kvitova in last 4 PARIS — Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer will meet in an all-Spanish French Open semifinal after winning their way through from the last eight Wednesday. Defending champion and second seed Nadal ousted another Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-3, while sixth seed Ferrer outgunned fourth seed Andy Murray of Britain 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-2. Friday's other semifinal has already been set, with top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia taking on third seed Roger Federer of Switzerland. The win over Almagro was the 50th for Nadal at the spiritual home of claycourt tennis since he first competed in Paris as an 18-year-old in 2005. His only defeat came in the fourth round in 2009 when he lost to Robin Soderling of Sweden in a fourth round match. This year Nadal is bidding to become the first player to win seven French Open titles, moving him out of a tie with Swedish legend Bjorn Borg. A win Sunday would also be his 11th Grand Slam title, level with Borg and Rod Laver. In the end Almagro went the way of so many others over the course of the last seven years, but he gave a solid account of himself especially in a hotly-disputed first set. “He had chances in the third. He had a few very good moments hitting the ball very hard,” said Nadal of Almagro who he beat for the eighth time in eight matches. “But my serve worked really well, and he had one mistake, one important mistake with the forehand.” Nadal's drive into the final four has come at the cost of just 30 games and he will take confidence into the semifinal clash with close friend Ferrer having beaten him 15 times out of the 19 times they have played each other. Ferrer is fully aware of the extent of the challenge that awaits him. After his hard-earned win over Murray he said: “It will be a tough match against Rafa, he's the best in history on this surface, but I hope to have a good match. “Tonight's match was very hard, physically very difficult. But I am happy to be in the semifinals at Roland Garros for the first time.” Murray, bidding to reach a second successive French Open semifinal, comfortably matched his opponent in the gruelling, big-hitting rallies, but was undone by 59 unforced errors. It meant his long-running quest to end 76 years of heartbreak for British tennis at the four major tournaments in tennis will now move on to the grass at Wimbledon. Earlier, Maria Sharapova reached her third French Open semifinal where she will take on Petra Kvitova, the powerful Czech who crushed her in last year's Wimbledon final. Russian second seed Sharapova, who was also a semifinalist in 2007 and 2011, eased past Estonia's Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 6-3 while fourth-seeded Kvitova ended Kazakh qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova's dream run with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win. “I am happy to be back in the semifinals. I love coming back here to challenge myself to go further in the tournament,” said Sharapova, who can reclaim the world No. 1 spot if she gets to Saturday's final. On another chilly, gloomy day in the French capital, Sharapova and Kanepi exchanged breaks in the first two games before the Russian picked up two more in the third and seventh games. Kanepi, the 23rd seed, saved two set points in the eighth game, but was powerless on the third when Sharapova unleashed a fierce serve down the middle which the Estonian could only deflect into the stands. The start of the second set was just as untidy as the first with the world No. 2 giving up a break to slip 2-0 down on a fourth double fault and then retrieving it immediately in the next to trail 2-1. Kanepi was quickly another break down while a Sharapova hold to love gave the Russian a 4-2 lead. Sharapova squandered the opportunity to serve out the match in the eighth game when she was broken to love, but it was a brief respite for the 26-year-old Estonian who ballooned a forehand wide to hand Sharapova the tie in the next. Kvitova reached her first French Open semifinal with a battling victory over world No. 142 Shvedova. Shvedova was bidding to become the first qualifier to make the last four at Roland Garros and she got off to a roaring start against Kvitova and was even 4-2 ahead in the deciding set before she wilted. Kvitova held in the seventh game of the decider and immediately put pressure on Shvedova's serve to level the match at 4-4, followed by a crucial hold. Serving at 4-5, nerves got the better of Shvedova, allowing the world No. 4 to convert her second match point for a place in the semifinal. Thursday's other semifinal sees Australia's Samantha Stosur taking on Sara Errani of Italy.
