PARIS, June 3: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic set up the semi-final clash the French Open had demanded on Tuesday while Ana Ivanovic suggested only a minor miracle could stop her from being crowned the new queen of Roland Garros.

Three-time champion Nadal evidently wanted the party to start early as he celebrated his 22nd birthday in style by battering fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro for the loss of a paltry three games.

Not even Nadal had won more clay matches than Almagro this season, but the second seed made it look like men against boys as he bulldozed his way to a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 win, his 26th consecutive victory on the red Paris dust.

Nadal was facing his first right-hander at this year’s event but for all the resistance Almagro offered he may as well have played left-handed as the champion once again showed his astonishing powers of retrieval and pace generated from the most unlikely angles.

“Uno, uno!” Almagro roared to the heavens in frustration as finally he started to produce the service form that had seen him crack a tournament-best 78 aces on his way to the quarters.

But it was too little too late, and Almagro’s miserable day was summed up when he slammed a straightforward overhead into the net to hand the insatiable Mallorcan victory.

Asked what had happened in the match, he deadpan replied: “Didn’t you see? Well, I think there was a guy called Nadal on the centre court, and he played much better than me.”

Djokovic and Latvian Ernests Gulbis, former hitting partners at the Niki Pilic academy in Munich, took to Court Suzanne Lenglen like a couple of giggling schoolchildren caught with their hands in the sweet jar.

But Gulbis, the first player from the Baltic state to play in a Grand Slam, soon wiped the smile off the third seed’s face with his big serves and deceptively agile baseline play.

With no real weakness in the 19-year-old’s game, Djokovic had to take his chances when he could and he looked skywards and crossed himself with relief after sealing a 63-minute opener.

The 70-minute second set proved no cakewalk either for the Australian Open champion and the relief was palpable when he finally closed out the match 7-5, 7-6, 7-5 after a shade over three hours with a service winner, the two then embracing warmly at the net.

Ivanovic has met practically no opposition on her way to the last four. Her quarter-final with 10th seed Patty Schnyder resembled a practice session in which someone just happened to be keeping the score.

She has lost only 20 games in reaching the semis for a second straight year, and her power-packed baseline game sent the 29-year-old Swiss’s unforced error count ballooning.

The 6-3, 6-2 victory earned a semi-final berth against fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic, who produced an identical winning scoreline in her defeat of Spanish qualifier Carla Suarez Navarro.

“We played many times before, and we always have tough matches. I think we played only once on green clay, and never at a Grand Slam.

“It’s going to be an interesting match. At least we have one Serbian for sure in the final.”

Meanwhile, Monday ended on high for the French as Gael Monfils, who received a warning for being coached by his entourage in the stands, jigged his way to a 7-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over a resurgent Ivan Ljubicic.

Fifth seed David Ferrer took a leaf out of Dinara Safina’s manual to make sure he lived to fight another day.Annoyed at being broken in the third set against Czech Radek Stepanek, a raging Ferrer flung his racket into the ground, picked it up and then snapped it in two against his bended knee.

The episode spurred him on to a 4-6, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 win and a last-eight date with Monfil

Tuesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Quarter-finals: 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt 19-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 6-1, 6-1, 6-1; 3-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5.

Monday’s remaining results:

Fourth round: 5-David Ferrer (Spain) bt 21-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 4-6, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3; Gael Monfils (France) bt 28-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Women’s singles:

Quarter-finals: 3-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) bt Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) 6-3, 6-2; 2-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) bt 10-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) 6-3, 6-2.

Fourth round: 4-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) bt 16-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 6-2, 6-3; Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) bt Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Women’s doubles:

Quarter-finals: Casey Dellacqua (Australia)/Francesca Schiavone (Italy) bt 6-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus)/Shahar Peer (Israel) 7-6 (7-4), 7-5; Alona Bondarenko/Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) bt Ashley Harkleroad (US)/Galina Voskoboeva (Russia) 6-3, 6-3; 1-Cara Black (Zimbabwe)/Liezel Huber (US) bt Nuria Llagostera/Maria Jose Martinez (Spain) 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.

Mixed doubles:

Quarter-finals: 2-Kveta Peschke/ Pavel Vizner (Czech Republic) bt Janette Husarova (Slovakia)/Andre Sa (Brazil) 7-5, 6-4; Zheng Jie (China)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (India) bt Virginie Razzano (France)/Rogier Wassen (Netherlands) 6-2, 6-4.—Reuters