Rafael Nadal remains on course for a record seventh French Open title after easing past Nicolas Almagro in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.
The number two seed struggled to shake off his fellow Spaniard in the first set, but had few problems from there.
His 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 6-3 victory was his 50th win on the Paris clay, having lost only once in eight tournaments.
He will meet either Britain's Andy Murray or another Spaniard, David Ferrer, in the last four on Friday.
The presence of Nadal, Almagro and Ferrer in the last eight ensured Spain provided three of the four players remaining in the bottom half of the draw, with neither having dropped a set en route to the quarter-finals.
And Almagro, the 12th seed, posed Nadal problems in the first set, not conceding a break point until the 11th game, saving that and going on to force a tie-break.
Nadal raced through the second and, though he had to save break points in the fifth and seventh games of the third, a defeat of the Almagro serve in the ninth game was enough for the world number two to seal
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