By Alberto Amalfi | Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Rafael Nadal took the express route into history.
Nadal held a 6-2, 2-0 lead over Pablo Carreno Busta when the first-time quarterfinalist was forced to retire with a strained abdominal after 51 minutes of play.
Watch: Nadal On Time Change, Agassi's Reveal
That retirement sent Nadal into his record 10th Roland Garros semifinal and 25th Grand Slam semifinal, overall.
The nine-time champion is the first man in the Open Era to reach 10 French Open semifinals.
Nadal earned his 100th victory in a best-of-five-sets match on clay. He owns a 100-2 career record in best-of-five-sets matches on clay.
The fourth-seeded Spaniard dominated the opening set, winning five of the first six games.
The 20th-seeded Carreno Busta took a 12-minute injury timeout for taping on his strained abdominal, but was clearly compromised when he returned. Unable to fully extend on his serve, Carreno Busta was limited to serving in the 80 mph range.
Wincing when he struck a bounce overhead, Carreno Busta pulled the plug with Nadal holding a 15-0 lead in the third game.
The 31-year-old Nadal has permitted just 22 games reaching the semifinals, which is the fewest games he's ever allowed reaching the semifinals of a Grand Slam. In 2008, Nadal surrendered just 25 games reaching the French Open semifinals.
The 14-time Grand Slam champion will play either reigning champion Novak Djokovic or Dominic Thiem, who toppled Nadal in Rome last month, for a spot in his 10th Roland Garros final.