Nadal 1-7 to lift seventh Roland Garros crown

RAFAEL NADAL is 1-3 to win his seventh French Open after he cruised into Sunday's Roland Garros final by beating David Ferrer 6-2 6-2 6-1 in the last four on Friday.

Nadal was as short as 1-20 for the match, but there were still a few raised eyebrows at just how easily he dispatched a man who had been playing some fantastic tennis and he is the clear favourite to beat 13-5 world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

Nadal has yet to drop a set on the red clay this year, a remarkable statistic considering he has played the likes of Ferrer, Djokovic, Tomas Berdych and Gilles Simon.

The Pearl of Manacor had been available at odds-against ante-post heading into the clay court season, something that the layers will have been regretting as soon as they saw how easily Nadal defeated Djokovic in their Monte Carlo Masters final in April.

Djokovic gained revenge for his semi-final exit at the hands of Roger Federer in 2011 by knocking out the Swiss maestro in straight sets this year.

Federer failed to penetrate Djokovic's defences often enough and the writing was on the wall when Federer surrendered a 3-0 lead in the second set only to lose the set 7-5.

Read Saturday's Racing Post for French Open women's final betting preview package

Read Sunday's RPSPORT for French Open men's final betting preview package