Nadal Advances to French Open Semifinals

Rafael NadalPhoto Courtesy: pwp.com

PARIS - Defending champion Rafael Nadal advanced to the French Open semifinals and extended his record clay-court winning streak Wednesday when Novak Djokovic retired with a back injury after losing the first two sets.

Nadal led 6-4, 6-4 when Djokovic quit three points into the third set.

The unseeded Djokovic, playing in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, hurt his back and sought treatment from a trainer after falling behind 3-0 in the second set. In the next game he took a spill behind the baseline and appeared to twist his ankle.

Djokovic won four more games but sometimes clutched his back and winced following shots. After hitting a backhand long in the first game of the third set, he walked to the net and conceded.

"It's not nice to win like that," Nadal said.

Still, the brevity of the 1-hour, 54-minute match was a break for Nadal, who had played 8 hours, 10 minutes in his previous two matches.

Seeded second, the Spaniard won his 58th consecutive clay-court match and improved to 12-0 at Roland Garros. A potential Sunday showdown against top-ranked Roger Federer looms, but first Nadal must play Friday against the winner of the last quarterfinal between No. 4-seeded Ivan Ljubicic and unseeded Julien Benneteau.

Nicole Vaidisova will play in her first Grand Slam semifinal Thursday against Svetlana Kuznetsova. A 17-year-old Florida-based Czech, Vaidisova pulled off her second successive upset Tuesday by beating Venus Williams 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3.

"I've surprised myself a little," Vaidisova said.

Earning berths in the other semifinal were Belgians Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters, who will play each other for the 18th time Thursday.

Henin-Hardenne, who won the tournament in 2003 and 2005, beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld 7-5, 6-2. Two-time runner-up Clijsters defeated Martina Hingis 7-6 (5), 6-1.

On the men's side, top-ranked Roger Federer moved closer to his fourth consecutive Grand Slam title by beating Mario Ancic 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Roland Garros is the only major event Federer has yet to win.

His opponent Friday will be No. 3-seeded David Nalbandian, who beat Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

The showcase match in the women's semis will be the all-Belgian pairing. Clijsters leads the rivalry 10-7, but they've met only once since January 2005.

There was a strain in the relationship for a time, but they're friends again and Federation Cup teammates.

"We put the problems of the past aside," Henin-Hardenne said. "We have a lot of respect for each other. We each know what each of us has done is quite fabulous. ... Everybody will pay a lot of attention to this match."

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