This year's men's French Open campaign has thrown up a number of surprises over the past 11 days, but with the semi-finals taking place on Friday afternoon, only a major surprise will prevent two familiar foes progressing through to the final.

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic remain on course to clash for the second time in three years, but Andy Murray and Ernests Gulbis have both shown during their run to the last four that they are capable of causing an upset against their respective opponents.

Below, Sports Mole takes a look at each semi-final, as well as predicting who will take their place on Philippe-Chatrier on Sunday afternoon.

1. Novak Djokovic vs. Ernests Gulbis:

Route to the semi-finals

Despite his status as the number two seed, the draw, on paper, wasn't too kind to Djokovic with a number of big-hitters lurking from the last-32 stage onwards, but the former world number one has swept aside everyone in his path.

After blasting past Joao Sousa and Jeremy Chardy, Marin Cilic stood in Djokovic's way, but despite dropping his first set of the tournament on a tie-break, the 2012 finalist comfortably progressed to the next round in four sets.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was brushed aside for the loss of just six games, before Milos Raonic, who is continuing to establish himself in the world's top 10, was overcome in three closely-fought sets.

As for Gulbis, once he had beaten Lukas Kubot in four sets, he found his rhythm to surge through to the last 16 where he was faced with the challenge of attempting to beat Roger Federer.

After dropping the opener, Gulbis's desire to fight back was tested but he passed with flying colours as he eventually progressed past the Swiss in five sets to move through to face Tomas Berdych.

Berdych isn't the same player on clay as he is on hard surfaces, and the Latvian took full advantage in powering past the sixth seed by a 6-3 6-2 6-4 scoreline.

Past meetings

Somewhat surprisingly, Djokovic and Gulbis have met just five times on the ATP Tour since their first match in 2008, but they haven't locked horns for almost three years.

That came at Indian Wells, with Djokovic winning in straight sets, and their only clash on clay came at Roland Garros in the quarter-finals in 2008.

Gulbis has lost in straight sets to the Serb on four occasions, but he did manage to get one over the number two seed when they met in Brisbane in 2009.

Prediction

In theory, Djokovic should be able to use his experience to beat Gulbis, who is competing in his first major semi-final after failing to get past the third round in his previous 21 Grand Slam appearances.

However, Gulbis's lack of know-how on this stage could be used to his advantage, and he has nothing to lose by coming out all guns blazing against Djokovic, who will be wary of the 25-year-old's strength from the back of the court.

But despite his undoubted ability, Gulbis has rarely showed the consistency required over the course of five sets, and even though he could get a set on the board, Djokovic should have enough to come through.

2. Rafael Nadal vs. Andy Murray:

Route to the semi-finals

As in his previous eight French Open triumphs, Nadal has stormed through to the last four without breaking sweat, with last year's runner-up David Ferrer being the only man to test the 'king of clay'.

Nadal dropped just 10 games in six sets against Robby Ginepri and rising star Dominic Thiem, and although Leonardo Mayer kept him on court for longer than anticipated, the left-hander was never in danger of failing to qualify for the last 16.

Dusan Lajovic, making his first fourth-round appearance at a Grand Slam, was easily dispatched in 93 minutes to see Nadal move through to face compatriot Ferrer, who produced one of the best sets of tennis of his career to take the opener against the number one seed.

However, despite throwing everything in his repertoire at Nadal, it wasn't enough, and the 28-year-old will go into his match with Murray with plenty left in the tank.

On the other hand, Murray has been forced to dig deep to win his place in the last four, but the Scot will be brimming with confidence after his best showing since returning to the ATP Tour at the start of the year after a three-month injury layoff.

The number seven seed comfortably got past Andrey Golubev and Marinko Matosevic, but the two-time Grand Slam titlist was pushed to the limit by Philipp Kohlschreiber before prevailing to the fourth round with a 12-10 success in the decider.

Murray struck the ball superbly during his win over Fernando Verdasco, and he looked to be on course for a comprehensive victory over Gael Monfils before allowing the Frenchman back into the contest in front of his raucous home crowd.

However, in the fading Paris daylight, Murray powered his way to a final-set bagel to start a new chapter of his rivalry with the Spaniard.

Past meetings

The pair have previously faced each other on 19 occasions with Nadal holding a 14-5 advantage over the Brit, and his dominance on clay won't fill Murray with much confidence going into tomorrow's battle.

The Wimbledon champion has taken just two sets off the left-hander in five matches, while their previous encounter at Roland Garros saw Nadal prevail 6-4 7-5 6-4 in the last four in 2011.

The one positive that Murray can take into their 20th match is that he proved that he had the power to dismantle Nadal when they went toe-to-toe in Rome last month, and although Murray eventually lost the contest, Nadal will have to come up with a gameplan to counter the 27-year-old's weapons on Friday afternoon.

Prediction

Despite Murray adopting an attacking approach throughout the tournament, it's difficult to see the Scot sustaining the consistency that is required to overcome Nadal at Roland Garros over five sets.

Murray will be determined as ever to further cement his return to the ATP Tour with the most eye-catching of victories, but Nadal showed against Ferrer that he can respond to anything that comes his way and he is justifiably a big favourite to reach the final.

Murray may have success during the opening exchanges of the contest when they trade blows from the back of the court, but Nadal's relentless assault on all aspects of Murray's game will be too much for his opponent to handle.