• French Open, Day 11

What They Said: Nadal & Djok ready for 'biggest match'

Rafael Nadal was delighted to beat Stanislas Wawrinka © AP

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Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will meet in the semi-finals of the French Open after both won their quarter-final matches on Wednesday.

It will be a repeat of last year's final - won by Nadal - due to the Spaniard's lower seeding, a result of his world ranking fall due to a seven-month lay-off after struggling with injury.

Both players are ready for the meeting, with Nadal believing he is coming up against the best player in the men's game.

"I know that I play against the best player of the world," he said. "I know that he's having great results for a long time.

"I'm just trying to play my way, trying to find my rhythm and trying to play my best match. That's the only way to have a chance in the semi-final."

Djokovic believes the encounter will be the most important match of the entire tournament for both players.

He said: "I look forward to the match. You know, it's not the first time I'm playing him. We have played over 30 times. I'm sure that we know each other's games really well.

"We are in good form. This is the biggest match-up of our Roland Garros 2013 campaign for both me and him."

Elsewhere on Wednesday, Maria Sharapova came back from losing the first set 6-0 to defeat Jelena Jankovic in three sets. The defending champion was delighted at her powers of recovery.

"After the first set I knew if I wanted to win this match I'd have to change things around," she said. "I just had to erase that chapter and move forward because the match was not over. I still felt like I was in the match and I was - I broke her in the first game and that was extremely important.

"I just fought really hard in the third set. It only gets tougher from here but I'm really happy to be at this stage again."

The Russian will now face Victoria Azarenka, who edged the opening set against Maria Kirilenko in a tiebreak to duly win in straight sets.

"The first set definitely made a difference," she said. "One or two points really decided the first set, especially the beginning of the tie-break. The way I started was really dominant. That's how I was supposed to play the entire match."

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