Second seed Rafael Nadal stormed into yet another semifinal at the French Open after fending off a strong challenge from rising teen Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner in the men's singles quarterfinals which witnessed a rather late finish on Tuesday night at Roland Garros in Paris.

Nadal who was tested a bit in the opening set by the 19-year old talented clay courter, went onto win the last eight encounter by clinching the next two sets with relative ease with the scoreline reading 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-1 .

Nadal who was playing his 100th match at his favourite slam where he is already a record 12 time champion on the red clay, expressed his concerns about the cold temperatures and the gusty winds which blew over the Philippe Chatrier.

It is notable that the French Open never witnessed a match being played after 10 p.m. until this edition, after a roof was installed on Court Philippe Chatrier and lights around the grounds, play can continue past sunset.

Nadal will now take on 12th-seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman who stunned third seed Austrian and last edition's finalist Dominic Theim in a grueling five set quarterfinal encounter.

The 12-time French Open champion moved two matches closer to winning a record extending thirteenth titles at Roland Garros and equaling his long time rival Roger Federer's record of 20 Grand Slam Singles titles.

“I’m very, very happy to be in the semi-finals again here at Roland Garros,” Nadal said on court. “No doubt that this is the most important place for me and the most beautiful place to play. [I'm] just very, very happy.”