Nadal halts Fed express to reach final

Roger Federer’s hopes of lifting the 2005 French Open title came to an end tonight when he was beaten by Spanish prodigy Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals.

Fourth seed Nadal, who is celebrating his 19th birthday today, looked more at home on clay as he battled to a 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-3 victory against the world number one.

He will now meet unseeded Mariano Puerto in the final after the Argentinian had earlier ousted 12th seed Nikolay Davydenko in a five-set thriller.