The belated appearance of the blazing sun at what had been a cold and chilly French Open until Friday allowed Rafa Nadal to scorch past Andy Murray and set up a hotly-anticipated final with Novak Djokovic.

Murray's bid to become the first British man in 77 years to reach the Roland Garros showpiece wilted away in a 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 pasting by the world No 1 who now stands just one win away from lifting the Musketeers' Cup for a ninth time.

To do that he will need to beat his great Serbian rival, who showed Ernests Gulbis that a French Open final is no place for a tennis wild child as he beat the Latvian 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to keep alive his dreams of completing a career grand slam.

While Djokovic spent some of his youth honing his world-beating tennis skills in a drained swimming pool in Belgrade, Gulbis, the son of one of Latvia's richest men, was busy enjoying the high life.

Djokovic's two-decade long dedication to his craft was clear for all to see on Friday as despite struggling with the heat late in the third set, he hung in there to finish off the match in four sets and spare his reddening coach Boris Becker from opening up a second bottle of sunblock.

"I'm glad I won in four sets because if it went to a fifth, God knows in which direction the match could go," the six-time Grand Slam champion said after beating his childhood friend.

"Suddenly, midway through the third set, I started to feel physically fatigued a little bit. You could see that both me and him, we struggled on the court."

Nowhere was that struggle more evident than in the fourth set because after Gulbis had broken back in the third game, Djokovic's anger boiled over.

He smashed his racket on the red dirt and left it a mangled mess. With the crowd loudly whistling at his petulance, he raised his arms to apologize before giving the racket another bashing by slamming it to the ground behind his bench.

Becker, who spent the changeovers applying more and more sunblock on his arms and face, gestured to his charge from the stands to put an iced towel around his neck.

Djokovic heeded the German's advice and also donned a baseball cap before he returned to the task in hand and eventually broke for a 5-3 lead before sealing victory.

Gulbis produced some nonchalant dropshots, crafty angles and thunderous backhands but never really threatened to stop Djokovic from setting up a 42nd meeting with Nadal.

Djokovic rattled through the final game to love, sealing the match with a bone-crunching forehand that left Gulbis stirred and shaken following his first foray into a Grand Slam semi.

"I'm not used to playing these kind of big matches. It's just normal I felt extra nervous and extra tense ... it was a struggle out there," said Gulbis, who is said to have traveled to junior matches on his father's private jet and helicopters.

Murray will also be jetting out of Paris earlier than he would have wanted after being subjected to a 100-minute mauling on Nadal's personal playground, with the Scot winning just 10 points on the Spaniard's serve.

There had been much talk of whether Murray's new-found confidence after winning two Grand Slam titles since the last time they met at Roland Garros, in the 2011 semifinals, would allow him to break Nadal's 5-0 clay-court hold over him.

Not much went Murray's way on Friday but if there was one statistic that summed up his forgettable afternoon - Nadal won six out of six break points while the Wimbledon champion won none from none.

"That's the toughest match I have played against him," Murray said after losing for the 15th time in 20 meetings against the champion.

"He served well and I didn't return well. Simple. He was just battering the next ball into the corner.

"It was a bad, bad day."

For Nadal, it was a brilliant day.

The top seed's Roland Garros win-loss record now stands at 65-1 and only the brave would bet against Nadal becoming the first man to win five successive titles at the home of clay-court tennis when he takes on Djokovic on Sunday.

"As a kid it was my dream to play here at Roland Garros, after 10 years of coming here to be playing in my ninth final is unbelievable," the Spaniard said after chalking up his 34th consecutive victory on the Paris clay.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

How Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have fared against each other leading into Sunday's French Open final (year, tournament, surface, round, winner, result):

Nadal leads 22-19

2014 Rome Clay F Djokovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-3

2014 Miami Hard F Djokovic 6-3, 6-3

2013 London Hard F Djokovic 6-3, 6-4

2013 Beijing Hard F Djokovic 6-3, 6-4

2013 US Open Hard F Nadal 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1

2013 Montreal Hard SF Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2)

2013 French Open Clay SF Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7 (3), 9-7

2013 Monte Carlo Clay F Djokovic 6-2, 7-6 (1)

2012 French Open Clay F Nadal 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5

2012 Rome Clay F Nadal 7-5, 6-3

2012 Monte Carlo Clay F Nadal 6-3, 6-1

2012 Australian Open Hard F Djokovic 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5

2011 US Open Hard F Djokovic 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-1

2011 Wimbledon Grass F Djokovic 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3

2011 Rome Clay F Djokovic 6-4, 6-4

2011 Madrid Clay F Djokovic 7-5, 6-4

2011 Miami Hard F Djokovic 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4)

2011 Indian Wells Hard F Djokovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

2010 London Hard RR Nadal 7-5, 6-2

2010 US Open Hard F Nadal 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2

2009 London Hard RR Djokovic 7-6 (5), 6-3

2009 Paris Hard SF Djokovic 6-2, 6-3

2009 Cincinnati Hard SF Djokovic 6-1, 6-4

2009 Madrid Clay SF Nadal 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (9)

2009 Rome Clay F Nadal 7-6 (2), 6-2

2009 Monte Carlo Clay F Nadal 6-3, 2-6, 6-1

2009 Davis Cup Clay RR Nadal 6-4, 6-4, 6-1

2008 Beijing Olympics Hard SF Nadal 6-4, 1-6, 6-4

2008 Cincinnati Hard SF Djokovic 6-1, 7-5

2008 Queen's Club Grass F Nadal 7-6 (6), 7-5

2008 French Open Clay SF Nadal 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (3)

2008 Hamburg Clay SF Nadal 7-5, 2-6, 6-2

2008 Indian Wells Hard SF Djokovic 6-3, 6-2

2007 Shanghai Hard RR Nadal 6-4, 6-4

2007 Montreal Hard SF Djokovic 7-5, 6-3

2007 Wimbledon Grass SF Nadal 3-6, 6-1, 4-1 - retired

2007 French Open Clay SF Nadal 7-5, 6-4, 6-2

2007 Rome Clay QF Nadal 6-2, 6-3

2007 Miami Hard QF Djokovic 6-3, 6-4

2007 Indian Wells Hard F Nadal 6-2, 7-5

2006 French Open Clay QF Nadal 6-4, 6-4 - retired

Rafael Nadal celebrates winning his semifinal against Andy Murray at Roland Garros.The reigning champion won in straight sets,6-3,6-2,6-1. David Vincent / Associated Press

Novak Djokovic gestures after missing a return during his semifinal against Ernests Gulbis at Roland Garros on Friday.Djokovic won 6-3,6-3,3-6,6-3. Michel Euler / Associated Press

(China Daily 06/08/2014 page11)