Nadal flattens Murray to reach French Open final

PARIS — No. 1 Rafael Nadal completely overwhelmed No. 7 Andy Murray, needing only an hour and 40 minutes to win 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 in the French Open semifinals.

Nadal dominated every aspect of this match, but especially his service games. The world No. 1 won 49 of his 59 serving points, losing only four of his first-serve points, and he never faced a break point. The Spaniard won 83 total points to Murray’s 43, which is pretty incredible in a sport where the loser can actually win more points than the winner.

There was no doubt that Murray was drained after his last three matches — two of which went to five sets. Nadal has only dropped one set in the entire tournament, to David Ferrer in the quarterfinals.

With the victory, Nadal improves his career record at the French Open to 65-1 (the lone loss coming in 2009 to Robin Soderling), and he’ll face off in the final against Novak Djokovic, who ousted Ernests Gulbis in four sets in the first semifinal. After seemingly easy semifinals for both men, we can only hope for what will be a classic matchup in the final.