PARIS (AP) — The long, leafy main walkway at Roland Garros separated Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as they played simultaneous French Open matches in different stadiums Wednesday.
Now they'll go head to head.
Both advanced to Friday's semifinals with victories in straight sets, finishing less than 10 minutes apart. Nadal drubbed Stanislas Wawrinka 6-2, 6-3, 6-1, and shortly thereafter Djokovic eliminated 35-year-old Tommy Haas 6-3, 7-6 (5), 7-5.
So much for the preliminaries to set up a much-anticipated rematch of last year's final, which Nadal won for a record seventh French Open title. He's 57-1 at Roland Garros and bidding to become first man to win eight titles at the same Grand Slam event.
"I'm ready to play five sets," Djokovic said.
The Serb, ranked No. 1 and the winner of six Grand Slam titles, seeks the only major championship he has yet to win. With two more victories he would become the eighth man to complete a career Grand Slam.
The other semifinal pits Spaniard David Ferrer against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who's trying to become the first Frenchman in 30 years to win Roland Garros.
Advancing on the women's side were defending champion Maria Sharapova and two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka, and they'll meet Thursday. The other semifinal will match No. 1 Serena Williams against 2012 runner-up Sara Errani.
Nadal leads Djokovic 19-15 but lost their most recent meeting in the Monte Carlo final on clay in April. Nadal leads 6-3 in Grand Slam meetings.
"I played a great match when I faced him on clay this year at Monte Carlo," Djokovic said. "That match gave me a bit of confidence against him. But here in Roland Garros, he's very good. He has lost only once in the past 10 years. It will be very difficult for me. But I'm in a very good position now."
Because Nadal's ranking slipped during a seven-month layoff because of a knee injury, he and Djokovic wound up in the same half of the draw. As a result, they'll meet before the final at a major event for the first time since 2008.
Both were near top form in the quarterfinals.
Djokovic reached his 12th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal and improved to 33-4 this year by wearing down Haas, the oldest French Open men's quarterfinalist since 1971. Djokovic built an early lead, winning 40 of his first 43 service points.
Haas found himself on the verge of pulling even at 5-all in the tiebreaker, but Djokovic smacked a backhand winner to end a 24-stroke rally — longest of the match — and won the next point as well for a two-set lead.
He wobbled at the finish, but Haas was too tired to put up much of a fight. Djokovic kissed the line with a backhand winner on match point, and after the handshake ritual at the net, let out a scream and threw a punch, ready for Rafa.
Nadal, seeded No. 3, turned in his finest performance of the tournament yet. After dropping the first set in each of the first two rounds, he has won 12 sets in a row.
"I had a difficult first week," he said. "The last two matches were much more positive. I played today at a very good level."
Nadal improved to 10-0 against Wawrinka and has won all 22 sets they've played.
GALLERY: FRENCH OPEN DAY 11
Head to head
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