Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts during his men's quarter-final match against his compatriot David Ferrer at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris June 4, 2014.
Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts during his men's quarter-final match against his compatriot David Ferrer at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris June 4, 2014. REUTERS

It’s down to four in the men’s singles competition of the 2014 French Open with the world’s top two players, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic and a couple more—a familiar face in Andy Murray and an unheralded contender in Ernests Gulbis—still vying for the Grand Slam title in Paris.

Will the favourites rise to the challenge? Or can the underdogs pull off the upset? Nadal of Spain faces Murray of Great Britain in the first semifinal while Djokovic of Serbia takes on Gulbis of Latvia in the other half of the final four.

Murray is priced at 5.8 to win the match against Nadal, who is the huge favourite at 1.14 but he’s not satisfied just getting to the semis.

“Getting to the semi is definitely a big achievement, but it’s not what I came here to do. My goals and expectations are different to a lot of people. I have done OK so far. Still a long way to go. I definitely learned some things in the match in Rome that I hope to use to my advantage here,” declared the 27-year-old Scottish player in the tournament’s official website.

Murray needed five sets to beat Frenchman Gael Monfils, 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 1-6, 6-0 to advance to the semis.

For his part, Nadal wasn’t also satisfied in his last match although he won convincingly, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, 6-1 against compatriot David Ferrer.

“It was amazing how many mistakes I had with my backhand today, it is difficult to understand,” said Nadal after the QF match. “I went on court relaxed. Not relaxed thinking that I was going to win, but relaxed thinking I'm going to play well. I’m really feeling the ball better than probably during the whole year.”

Nadal has nearly owned Murray in head-to-head career meetings winning 14-of-19 matches between the two. However, Murray has won 2 of the last 3 matches-- although those two victories came in 2011 (Final in the 2011 Japan Open) and 2012 (Semifinal of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Miami, Florida).

The 28-year-old Nadal won the last meeting in 2014 in the quarterfinal of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Rome, Italy last May.

Meanwhile, Gulbis is an even bigger underdog at 6.50 against Djokovic at 1.12. The pair has met five times in ATP matches with Djokovic holding a 4-1 win-loss record against the Latvian. The sole Gulbis victory came in Brisbane in 2009 after he beat Djokovic, 6-4, 6-4 in the early rounds of the Brisbane International 250.