PARIS — Five rounds into the French Open, king of clay Rafael Nadal still awaits a serious challenge.
Novak Djokovic hopes to provide it in the semifinals.
Three-time defending champion Nadal matched the most lopsided Grand Slam victory of his career Tuesday, defeating fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-1, 6-1, 6-1. The drubbing equaled the standard Nadal set in his previous victory, when he lost three games against another Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco.
Nadal was giving the center-court crowd a thumbs-up signal to punctuate his triumph shortly after Djokovic completed a much more arduous win on Court Suzanne Lenglen. He needed more than three hours to eliminate childhood friend Ernests Gulbis 7-5, 7-6 (3), 7-5.
The No. 3-seeded Djokovic plays No. 2 Nadal in a much-anticipated showdown Friday, with No. 1 Roger Federer looming as a potential opponent for the winner in the final.
Nadal is 26-0 at Roland Garros but Djokovic is making a mark in the record book, too. The Australian Open champion has reached five consecutive Grand Slam semifinals, joining Federer, Ivan Lendel and Boris Becker as the only men to accomplish the feat in the Open era.
Ana Ivanovic beat Patty Schnyder 6-3, 6-2 to become the first women’s semifinalist. Ivanovic’s opponent Thursday will be the winner of the later match between No. 3-seeded Jelena Jankovic and unseeded Carla Suarez Navarro.
“I am really happy the way I’m playing,” said the No. 2-seeded Ivanovic, who has yet to lose a set in five matches. “I just want to keep this level.”
Ivanovic has reached the semifinals at four of the past five Grand Slam tournaments, starting with her run at the French Open a year ago, when she lost to Justine Henin in the final.
She struggled against the 10th-seeded Schnyder only when trying to close out the victory. With light rain beginning to fall, she hit her second and third double-faults of the match in the final game before smacking a service winner on the third match point.
“I started to rush,” she said. “I was happy to calm down and still win the game.”
Svetlana Kuznetsova advanced to the quarterfinals for the third year in a row by completing a victory over Victoria Azarenka, 6-2, 6-3. Kuznetsova’s opponent Wednesday will be Kaia Kanepi, who became the first Estonian to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam tournament by beating Petra Kvitova 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
Kanepi and Kuznetsova won matches suspended Monday because of darkness.
The No. 4-seeded Kuznetsova hit 10 aces against the No. 16-seeded Azarenka, a Belarusian who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz. Azarenka was 0-for-7 on break-point chances, all in the first set.
Kuznetsova has lost just 19 games in four rounds, sweeping every set.
Kanepi, ranked 49th, began the tournament with a lifetime Grand Slam record of 5-8. She beat two seeded players — No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze and No. 29 Anabel Medina Garrigues — en route to the final eight.
“I have been believing in myself that I can play top players for a long time,” the 22-year-old Kanepi said. “I was hoping for a breakthrough someday.”
Kanepi said her latest victory would be big news in Estonia, and she expected plenty of messages from family and friends.
“My phone is still switched off, because I think there will be a lot,” she said with a smile. “I’m waiting for when I’m little relaxed.”
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