French Open 2013: Haas, Wawrinka stand in the way of Djokovic-Nadal semifinal

Djokovic believes it’s his destiny to reach the final for a second successive year and is determined to do so to honour the memory of Jelena Gencic, his first coach, who passed away at the weekend.

“She was like my second mother,” said the top seed.

“I feel even more responsible now to go all the way in this tournament. I want to do it for her because she was a very special person in my life.”

While Djokovic is playing in his 16th successive Grand Slam quarter-final, ninth-seeded Wawrinka will be in his first in Paris and just third overall.

The 28-year-old did it the hard way, coming from two sets to love down to defeat Richard Gasquet in the last-16.

Now it just gets tougher.

Against Nadal, he has played nine matches and lost every one, including four on clay.

The most recent humbling was in straight sets in the Madrid final in May.

“What inspires me is to look at Rafael‘s statistics at Roland Garros. It’s difficult to play against him,” admitted Wawrinka.

“What are my other sources of inspiration? Well, my level of game, my confidence, I want to be out there in the courts to win.”

Nadal’s form in Paris has got hotter as the weather has improved after a sluggish start which saw him drop the opening sets of his first two matches.

The Spaniard, bidding to become the first man to win the same Grand Slam title eight times, arrived in Paris with six titles from eight finals after returning from a seven-month knee injury lay-off.

Nadal, who turned 27 on Monday, said he is now being bothered by an elbow problem.

“Little by little I’m gaining greater power in my serve. My elbow has improved throughout the week. I feel much better,” he said

“I can put much more power therefore in my game. If you want to go far in tournament, you want to have a strong serve.”