Rafael Nadal has moved within one win of a record-equalling 20th grand slam title by reaching the French Open final with a comfortable 6-3 6-3 7-6(0) victory over Diego Schwartzman.

Nadal was beaten by the Argentine 12th seed a little over two weeks ago in Rome but the 12-time Roland Garros champion showed he was still the undisputed ‘King of Clay’ as he notched up a 10th win in 11 meetings over the game but outclassed Schwartzman.

A victory on Sunday for the 34-year-old left-hander, against either world number one Novak Djokovic or fifth-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, will tie him with Roger Federer’s men’s singles record of 20 major titles.

The Spaniard reached his 13th French Open final without dropping a set in this year’s edition.

Schwartzman, playing his first Grand Slam semi-final, had two break points in the opening game but Nadal saved both to win the game after battling for 14 minutes.

The Spaniard went on to break the Argentine twice in each of the first two sets.

The duo traded double service breaks in the third set before Nadal aced the tiebreak without losing a point. Schwartzman found the net with a return to hand Nadal victory in three hours and nine minutes.