5-time champ Nadal to face Murray in semis

PARIS (AP) - At last, Rafael Nadal sounded satisfied.

Then again, what could he possibly have complained about Wednesday? The five-time French Open champion reached the semifinals and improved his career record at Roland Garros to 43-1 with a clean-as-can-be 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory over the only man he's ever lost to there, two-time runner-up Robin Soderling.

"Today, I played better. Much better, in my opinion," Nadal said. "It was nothing secret, nothing magic. ... I found a lot of solutions."

On Friday, the top-seeded Nadal will take on No. 4 Andy Murray, who became only the third British man in the last 70 years to reach the French Open semifinals by beating unseeded Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 7-6 (2), 7-5, 6-2. Murray's been playing with a torn tendon in his right ankle since twisting it in the third round, and he trailed Chela 4-1, then 5-3, before saving two set points and turning the match around.

The other men's semifinal is No. 2 Novak Djokovic, who is 41-0 in 2011 and has won 43 consecutive matches overall, against No. 3 Roger Federer, owner of a record 16 Grand Slam titles.

It's the 12th time in the history of the Open era, which began in 1968, that the top four seeded men reached the semifinals at a Grand Slam tournament - and first since the 2006 French Open.

In contrast, none of the top four seeded players will participate in the women's semifinals today, when No. 5 Francesca Schiavone of Italy, the defending champion, faces No. 11 Marion Bartoli of France, and No. 6 Li Na of China meets No. 7 Maria Sharapova of Russia.

Sharapova beat No. 15 Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-0, 6-3 Wednesday with her fiance, New Jersey Nets guard Sasha Vujacic, in the stands. "I'm really happy that it's here."

Li, who became the first Chinese player to reach any major final at the Australian Open in January, was a 7-5, 6-2 winner over No. 4 Victoria Azarenka.