Rafael Nadal vs Robin Haase live stream, 2017 French Open
Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - 29/5/17 Spain's Rafael Nadal in action during his first round match against France's Benoit Paire Reuters / Christian Hartmann

Rafael Nadal marched into the semi-finals of the 2017 French Open Wednesday after fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta retired midway through the second set of their quarter-finals match. After Nadal claimed the first set six games to two, Carreno Busta received treatment for an abdominal injury before calling it a day after the second game of the second set. Nadal was up 6-2, 2-0 when the match was called off.

Nadal, the overwhelming title favourite, will now await the winner of the other quarter-final match between archrival Novak Djokovic and rising Austrian Dominic Thiem. As of this writing, Thiem was up two sets against the Serb and on the brink of setting up a semi-final encounter with Nadal, the King of Clay.

Thiem had defeated Nadal 6-4, 6-3 during the quarter-final of last month's Rome Masters. In fact, the 23-year-old Austrian remains the only player who owns a victory over Nadal during the 2017 clay-court season. At the start of the tournament, Thiem was given the third best odds to win the prestigious Roland Garros championship. Thiem is known for his relentless attack and powerful baseline shots and will likely push Nadal to the limit if they square off in the semi-final on Friday.

Rafael Nadal is now 77-2 at Roland Garros

The Spaniard is now 22-1 on clay this year, which includes victories at Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid. Nadal also registered his career 100th best-of-five-sets victory on clay from just 102 matches, with his only losses coming at the French Open, to Robin Soderling in the 2009 quarter-final and to Novak Djokovic in the 2015 Round of 8. The 14-time time Grand Slam champion also improved his career Roland Garros win-loss record to 77-2 and could potentially finish with a 79-2 record after Sunday's final.

Rafael Nadal has the opportunity to become the first player in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam on ten occasions. His overall Grand Slam tally stands at 14.