PARIS: Four-time champion Rafael Nadal stormed into his fifth French Open final on Friday to set up a mouth-watering revenge showdown with Robin Soderling, who sent him crashing to a first Paris defeat last year.Spanish second seed Nadal, who turned 24 on Thursday, outclassed battling Austrian journeyman Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) to maintain his record of not having dropped a set in this tournament.Soderling, the Swedish fifth seed who was defeated by Roger Federer in the 2009 final, blasted past Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in his semifinal.Now the Swede, who put Federer out in the quarter-final here on Wednesday, stands in the way of Nadal capturing a fifth French Open, a feat which would place the Spaniard just one behind Bjorn Borg on the all-time list.Nadal cruised through the first set in just 29 minutes with breaks in the sixth game, courtesy of a Melzer double fault, and the eighth when the Spaniard unleashed a rapier, cross-court backhand. There was no halting the Nadal assault as the former champion went on to take the second set 6-3.Nadal broke to love in the first game of the third set with a succession of deep, razor-sharp groundstrokes which left Melzer breathless from the chase. Melzer gallantly clung on and retrieved the break in the 10th game as Nadal served for the match.The Austrian saved two match points in the tie-break, the second with a nerveless drop shot, but dumped a forehand into the net on the third.Earlier, the first semifinal went the full distance with Soderling grabbing the vital break of serve he needed in the seventh game of the deciding set before winning the last two games to make sure.Two of the tallest men and biggest hitters in tennis, Soderling and Berdych had met eight times previously with the Swede leading the series 5-3.As expected, the final four showdown quickly developed into a deadly exchange of big serves and rasping groundstrokes down both flanks on a sun-bathed Philippe Chatrier centre-court.Berdych was the first to flinch in the sixth game when he double-faulted on break point allowing Soderling to take a 4-2 lead. The Swede comfortably served out to take the set, the first Berdych had lost in the tournament.It was more of the same in the second set, but this time it was Soderling who let his concentration slip in the fourth game with a couple of loose shots opening the door for the Czech to break serve for the first time.Berdych held firm in his next three service games to level the set scores at one apiece.The match was finely poised with the oncourt temperature soaring and it was Berdych who kept the momentum going into the third set, grabbing his second break of serve when Soderling double-faulted at 1-1.Soderling had an immediate chance to break back in the next game but was denied by a Berdych service winner, but two games later it was Berdych’s turn to double fault on break point.The fifth seed then moved ahead 5-4, but it was Berdych who finished the set stronger rattling off three games in a row as Soderling began to look the more tired of the two big men.The Swede struggled to hold his serve at the start of the fourth set while Berdych was holding with ease, but it was the Czech who wilted first dropping his serve in the sixth game to leave Soderling 4-2 up.That pumped up last year’s losing finalist and he comfortably served out twice to force a deciding set.