PARIS -- When it comes to the red clay of Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal has been nothing short of perfection.
Nadal routed No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 on Friday to improve to 11-0 in French Open semifinal matches.
The No. 1-seeded Spaniard, who has lost just one set in his march to the final, will look to capture a record-extending 11th title -- and 17th major overall -- on Court Philippe-Chatrier against Dominic Thiem on Sunday.
Thiem, the No. 7 seed, reached his first Grand Slam final by ending the surprising run of 72nd-ranked Marco Cecchinato of Italy with a powerful 7-5, 7-6 (10), 6-1 victory Friday.
"He's an amazing player," Nadal said of Thiem. "He's a player with big power. He's playing with big confidence. ... I know I have to play at my best. I know I have to improve a little bit."
The 24-year-old Austrian is the only man to defeat Nadal on clay this season, and his three wins against Nadal on the surface over his career is tied for second behind Novak Djokovic (7).
"He's a big favorite against everybody," Thiem said of Nadal. "Still, I know how to play against him. I have a plan."
Nadal is 49-0 against everyone else on the surface over the past two years.
Nadal compiled a 35-20 edge in winners while making only 19 unforced errors against del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion. According to ESPN Stats & Information, he can become the fourth man in the Open Era to win three or more majors after his 30th birthday, joining Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall and Roger Federer.
Nadal saved three break points at 1-all in the opening set and another three at 4-all. After holding there, Nadal broke del Potro to take that set and was on his way, taking 14 of the past 17 games.
This was the No. 5-seeded del Potro's first semifinal match at Roland Garros since 2009. He missed the tournament every year from 2013-16 because of injuries, including three operations on his left wrist.
In the fourth game Friday, del Potro clutched at his left hip after being wrong-footed by one shot from Nadal and was visited by a doctor at the next changeover.
Appearing in his third consecutive appearance in the final four at Roland Garros, Thiem finally got to face someone other than eventual champions Nadal (2017) or Novak Djokovic (2016), and he took full advantage.
This time, Thiem faced Cecchinato, a 25-year-old from Sicily who never had won a Grand Slam match until this tournament and was the lowest-ranked men's semifinalist at the clay-court major in 19 years. Cecchinato was accused of match-fixing and suspended for 18 months in 2016, but he appealed, and his punishment was dropped on a technicality.
After dropping the first two sets he played in the opening round, Cecchinato came back to win that match in five sets, then proceeded to string together upsets. He beat No. 10 seed Pablo Carreno Busta in the third round and No. 8 David Goffin in the fourth before stunning 12-time major champion Djokovic in the quarterfinals.
But Cecchinato could not quite keep up with Thiem and his big baseline game. Cecchinato made some headway by repeatedly using drop shots, but Thiem eventually started tracking them down well.
The pivotal part of the match was the second-set tiebreaker in which both men played superbly -- and both had chances to end it. Thiem went ahead 6-3, but wasted three set points there, including a bad volley into the net at 6-4 that left him chewing ruefully on his left index finger.
"It was not a very nice feeling," Thiem told the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd afterward.
A fourth set point for Thiem was erased with -- what else? -- a drop shot by Cecchinato.
Thiem had to weather three set points for Cecchinato, at 7-6, 9-8 and 10-9. Thiem got to 10-all with a drop shot of his own.
At long last, Thiem converted his fifth set point when Cecchinato sent a forehand long. The third set was dominated by Thiem, who raced to a 4-0, two-break lead in 12 minutes.
"If I had lost [that set], it would have been a very close match," Thiem said. "The big key was this set."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.