Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will play out Act III of their intriguing Roland Garros rivalry after they both trudged into the French Open final on Friday. Raw desire and an indomitable spirit allowed three-time champion Nadal to survive a late fight-back from Novak Djokovic and he subdued the Serbian 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 to reach his fourth successive final in Paris. While Nadal toiled for almost three hours to preserve his perfect record at the claycourt major, extending it to 27-0, Federer took even longer to extinguish France's hopes of producing a home champion for the first time in 25 years. Gael Monfils, ranked 59th, had ridden on a wave of French fervour into his first Grand Slam semifinal. He proved a handful for Federer and went down fighting 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. The Swiss world number one's progress means that for the third year in a row the Federer-Nadal show will take center stage on the final Sunday of the championships. The first match was billed as the battle for the world number two ranking but Djokovic's status as the third seed seemed to be a mathematical error. The second seed had flattened Djokovic at the same stage a year ago for the loss of just 11 games and after the Spaniard had established a 6-4, 6-2, 3-0 lead, the red-faced Serbian appeared to be heading for an even more lopsided defeat. Down 1-3 in the second set, Djokovic thought he had opened a window of opportunity when he earned his first break point of the match. Nadal reacted in typical fashion. He ran his opponent ragged to overcome the danger and then went on a rampage to win 15 successive points on his serve. Just when it seemed as if Djokovic would suffer the humiliation of being whitewashed in the third set, he suddenly came to life. Forehands and backhands that had been misfiring suddenly started to kiss the lines and he crawled back to 5-5 and even conjured a set point on Nadal's serve in the 12th game. That went begging, however, and Nadal snatched his reprieve to streak 6-0 ahead in the tiebreak, clinching victory on his fourth attempt with a thumping smash. Federer would have been expected to roll over his opponent but Monfils overcame his initial stage fright to produce a highly absorbing contest. After scooting off court to take a bathroom break even before a ball had been hit in anger, the gangly 21-year-old grabbed his moment in the spotlight. His entertaining antics included diving after futile shots, throwing his racket behind yet another Federer winner and performing the splits behind the baseline. – Reuters __
