Roger Federer managed to set up an excellent semi-final match at the French Open against Rafael Nadal as the defending champion when he defeated Stan Wawrinka in only four sets.

A few moments before Roger Federer claimed victory against Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal claimed a 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 win over Kei Nishikori during the French Open quarterfinals. However, the 20-time Grand Slam winner, Roger Federer, endured a draining 3-hour match on Court Suzanne Lenglen where he claimed a 7-6, 5-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory.

After the energy-sapping match, Roger Federer stated that the ultimate dream would be to win the entire French Open tournament. However, he is happy with reaching the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament as it hasn’t happened for quite some time. He also endured four heavy defeats in quarterfinals in the past, so from that point of view, he is pleased with the result already. Both quarterfinals experienced slight interruptions with thunderstorms in Paris.

Roger Federer at Roland Garros

Roger Federer will be playing at the famous Roland Garros for the very first time in the last four years when he missed the event back in 2016 due to a back injury which also caused him to miss the previous 2 clay-court tournaments to get back to health. He faced the most challenging test since he made a comeback to clay when he went up against Wawrinka, the champion of 2015, who managed to advance beyond the second round in a Grand Slam event for the first time since he lost in the French Open final in 2017.

The third seed, Roger Federer, managed to drop his 1st set of the tournament and converted only 2 out of his 18 breaks, even though the second of those – during the 9th game of his 4th set – proved to be decisive. Roger Federer stated that Stan Wawrinka still managed to make it to the final four even though he suffered several injuries in the past and had to break his rhythm with a few lucky shots.

Rafael Nadal Looking Forward to Semi-Final Clash

Rafael Nadal, who is currently 33 years of age, will be enjoying his 12th semi-final event at Roland Garros and has managed to claim victory in the tournament a total of 11 times where Roger Federer only claimed it twice.

It only took him an hour and 51 minutes to defeat Nishikori as the seventh seed and stated that he is playing very positively at the moment. He also said that facing Roger in the semi-finals will be unique as both of them shared some critical moments in tennis during their careers.

Nadal will face Federer for the 39th time this Friday, who managed to win his only Roland Garros title more than a decade ago. Nadal also impresses with a remarkable 23-15 record against Federer. However, it’s Federer who is currently boasting with more victories in the last five matches.