Defending champion Rafael Nadal pummelled fellow-Spaniard Carlos Moya into submission at the French Open to reach the semi-finals with a crushing 6-4 6-3 6-0 victory.

Good friends they may be off the court, but Nadal showed no mercy to a player nine years his senior, overwhelming the 1998 champion with another awesome display of clay-court tennis.

The 21-year-old has not lost a set during these championships and is on course to emulate Bjorn Borg's three consecutive French Open titles in the 1980s.

Twenty-third seed Moya, the oldest player of the eight quarter-finalists, cut a forlorn figure long before yet another brutal Nadal forehand ended the contest on his second match point just past the two-hour mark.

"I'm playing better than I was last year, even if I did lose in Hamburg this time," Nadal said, referring to his recent loss to Roger Federer that ended a 81-match winning streak on clay.

Moya fought hard early on to stay in touch, mixing up his game with some clever angles in a bid to negate the Nadal forehand. Nadal struck first, however, a dipping forehand forcing Moya to fumble a volley into the net.

It was all square quickly as Moya hit back to break the Nadal serve after Nadal made a hash of drop shot.

At that stage the Centre Court crowd's wish for a real battle between the Spaniards seemed a possibility but Moya surrendered his serve tamely in the next game and Nadal made no mistakes to close out the first set.

Moya's last chance came at 1-0 in the second set when he earned two break points. On both occasions his backhand was found wanting as Nadal spun serves out wide.

A double fault gifted Nadal a break in the next game as Moya's game began to disintegrate under a torrent of topspin from the other side of the net.

Moya held serve to trail 4-3 in the second before Nadal changed up a gear to roar through the last eight games and set up a last four clash with Serbia's Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic continued Serbia's French Open surge when he defeated Igor Andreev of Russia in straight sets to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final.

The sixth seed won 6-3 6-3 6-3 in two hours 10 minutes.

The 20-year-old, the youngest player left in the men's draw, will be the third Serb to feature in the last four with compatriots Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic already in the semi-finals of the women's singles.

He is also only the second Serbian man to reach a Grand Slam semi-final after Slobodan Zivojinovic who made the last four at the 1985 Australian Open and Wimbledon in 1986.

"I played really, really well. I wanted to impose my style of play. It's a sport where things can change very quickly," explained Djokovic, who also beat the Russian in their only previous meeting on clay at Estoril this year.

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