Nadal reaches French Open semis

 PARIS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Rafael Nadal beat fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the French Open semifinals without dropping a single set.

Nadal, whose only loss at Roland Garros came at the fourth round in 2009, is bidding to become the first player to win seven French Open titles, moving him out of a tie with Swedish legend Bjorn Borg.

The second seed will play the winner between his countryman David Ferrer, the sixth seed, or fourth seed Andy Murray of Britain for a place in Sunday's final.

The other semifinal will be played between top seed Novak Djokovic and third seed Roger Federer.

Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova came back from one set down to finish off the giant-killing run of Kazakh qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 and reach her first time ever French Open semifinals.

Doubles specialist Shvedova looked on her way to the semifinals after she won the first set.

But the Czech fourth seed kept her focus through driving rain to complete victory after her 142nd-ranked opponent¹ drilled a backhand wide on matchpoint.

"I expected it would be tough match and it was actually," said Kvitova.

"She started well and I was very nervous from the beginning making easy mistakes. Then I knew I had to change my game and I had to be the aggressive one and going for the points," she said.

Shvedova said she was worn down by tiredness rather than Kvitova.

"I was just super-tired. In the first set I still had the energy and I played well," she said.

"Then I had just lost energy. The third set is just like I was saying to myself to fight and just try to get all the balls," she added.

Kvitova will next take on title favorite Maria Sharapova for a place in Saturday's final.

Second seed Maria Sharapova beat unheralded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-2, 6-3 to reach the semifinals for the third time.

The Russian took 74 minutes to roll through her 23rd-seeded opponent, making 19 unforced errors and four double faults.

Sharapova expected her clash² with Kvitova to be close, but remained confident.

"She's an extremely tough opponent, someone that I have had good success in our last couple of previous meetings," she said.

1 opponent   

n.对手，敌手，反对者；adj.敌对的，反对的

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• After a fierce struggle,he got a beat on his opponent.经过殊死的较量，他占了对手的上风。

2 clash   

vi.冲突，不协调，砰地相撞；n.冲突，不协调

参考例句：

• There is a clash between two classes at 2 p.m. on Thursday.星期四下午两点有两堂课是冲突的。
• The pot came down on the stone floor with a clash.锅“当”地一声掉到石地上。