PARIS: Novak Djokovic handed nine-times champion Rafa Nadal his second defeat in 11 years at Roland Garros to reach the semifinals of the French Open with a devastating and thoroughly one-sided 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 win on Wednesday.

The world No.1 from Serbia, looking to win the only grand slam missing from his collection, will take on British third seed Andy Murray who beat Spain’s David Ferrer 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 the seventh seed, for a place in Sunday’s final.

Nadal’s only previous defeat came in 2009 when the Mallorcan was knocked out in the fourth round by Swede Robin Soderling.

“He is still a champion,” Djokovic, who celebrated calmly, told a courtside interviewer in French.

“The tactic was to be aggressive and focused on every point, but it is not easy to do when you play against Rafa here.”

Nadal, who was only seeded sixth after a slow start to the season, said: “I’m going to come back next year and I am going to try to be competitive, to try to be better prepared than this year.”

While the scoreline was crushing, the result was not the seismic shock that it was six years ago when the unthinkable happened and Nadal lost to Soderling.

Nadal had started Wednesday’s match with a 70-1 win-loss record on the Paris clay and had also won his last four grand-slam matches against Djokovic, as well as their six encounters at the French Open.

Djokovic, however, had won five of their six previous meetings as Nadal’s form faltered in the build-up to Roland Garros and the Serb stepped onto court Philippe Chatrier as the favorite.

He also started the match on the back of a 14-0 winning run on clay.

Third seed Murray made it 15 consecutive wins on clay this year by beating the No.7 seed Ferrer and make it a disappointing day all round for Spain.

Murray becomes the first British player to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros on three separate occasions having previously been knocked out in the last four in 2011 and 2014.

“I was frustrated at the end of the third set because I had match points and it’s very difficult to then play a full set more after that,” said Murray.

On the prospect of facing Djokovic, who he trails by 18-8 in career meetings, next, he added: “It’s going to be an extremely tough match but I hope it’s a good one.

“I’m going to need to play a high quality match to have a chance.”

In a remarkable first set on Court Suzanne Lenglen there were six breaks of serve — three apiece — before Murray eventually won it in a tiebreak.

Murray then took the second 6-2, breaking his opponent twice, and looked set to go on and secure victory with the minimum of fuss.

The Scot was 3-0 up in the third set before he let the 2013 runner-up back into the match.

First Murray failed to convert a match point at 5-4 up on Ferrer’s serve and then he was broken in the next game as the Spaniard forced a fourth set.

However, he could not maintain the fightback and the 28-year-old Murray ran away with the set, taking it 6-1 to seal victory after three hours and 16 minutes on court.

Serena to meet Bacsinszky

Top seed Serena Williams set up a semifinal clash with Timea Bacsinszky after defeating Italian 17th seed Sara Errani 6-1, 6-3 on Wednesday.

Williams, who is looking for her third title at Roland Garros and 20th career Grand Slam crown, will face Bacsinszky after the Swiss 23rd seed beat unseeded Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck 6-4, 7-5 in the day’s other quarter-final tie.

The American had lost the first set in each of her last three matches in Paris but on this occasion she meant business right from the off, breaking immediately to lead 2-0 on the central Court Philippe Chatrier.

The diminutive Errani, who was the runner-up at Roland Garros in 2012 and lost to Williams in the semifinals a year later, broke back straight away but once more she could not hold her own serve and fell 3-1 behind.

Williams then saved another break point against her in the following game with a brilliant cross-court forehand and, with Errani struggling against her opponent’s power, she broke again before serving successfully to take the first set in just 27 minutes.

The second set was tighter, going with serve until Williams broke in the seventh game to lead 4-3, and she then went on to clinch victory on her fourth match point in a marathon ninth game as the match concluded in just one hour and five minutes.

Williams, who has now won all nine of her meetings with Errani, was far too powerful for the Italian, producing 39 winners to just nine for her opponent and conjuring 11 return winners against Errani’s weak serve.

“In the last three matches I lost the first set and today I knew I needed to play very well because she is very good here at Roland Garros so it was very important for me,” said Williams.