French Open 2014: Rafael Nadal Thrashes Andy Murray to Set Up Final Showdown with Novak Djokovic

Rafael Nadal is on course for his ninth French Open title after dismantling Andy Murray in straight sets in Friday's semi-final.

The Spaniard will meet Novak Djokovic for the third year running in Sunday's final after cruising to a 6-3 6-2 6-1 victory over the British no. 1 in Paris as he underlined his dominance on the clay court.

Nadal took just one hour and 40 minutes to dispatch Murray who was unable to deal with his opponent's unerring forehand in the French capital, as he sealed his ninth final in 10 years.

Nadal's emphatic start to the opening set saw him storm into a 3-0 lead within 10 minutes as Murray was left powerless to deal with a series of empathic forehands expertly sprayed across the court. In scorching hot conditions, the 27-year-old barely broke a sweat as he claimed the first set with a powerful volley.

He wasted little time breaking again in the second with another exemplary forehand into the corner and Murray was unable to conjure any resistance as the world no. 1 sealed the second without facing a single break point.

After dropping the first set in his quarter-final victory over David Ferrer, Nadal proceeded to dominate the following sets with power and precision against his countryman and provided exactly the same against Murray. Having broken again in just the third game of the final set, the reigning champion sealed his victory after a fifth break to set up another meeting with Djokovic.

Djokovic confirmed his second French Open final with a 6-3 6-3 3-6 6-3 victory over Ernests Gulbis earlier in the afternoon. Although the Serb appeared drained in the latter stages of the competition in scorching conditions he remains on course to secure what would be his first title in Paris on Sunday against Nadal.

"The first two sets were very good for me and then he started to play with fewer errors," said Djokovic.

"It was very difficult to maintain my concentration because the conditions were difficult for me, but I'm very happy to have made it into the final."