Serbian Novak Djokovic, number one in the world and defending champion, and Spaniard Rafael Nadal, with a record 13 trophies at Roland Garros, will meet today in a quarterfinal match of the Parisian Grand Slam that captures the most attention of the tournament.
Djokovic (1) and “Rafa” Nadal (5) will face each other in the fourth and last turn of the Philippe Chatrier central court no earlier than 3:45 p.m. (Argentina time) in an early final that will be televised by ESPN and the Star platform +.
The 59th “duel” between two of the three giants of world tennis (the other is Roger Federer, inactive due to injury) has several seasonings that decorate the tie, since the Spaniard seeks his 14th crown in Paris and owns the record of 21 Grand Slam titles, one more than the Serbian and the Swiss.
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Djokovic, who is ahead in the record with a two-game advantage, 30 to 28, knows that Nadal is the great enemy to beat to win the title and will try to beat him as he did last year in the semifinals when he beat him 3-6 , 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and 6-2, to later beat the Greek Stéfanos Tsitsipas in the final.
At Roland Garros, Nadal leads Djokovic 7-2 in their personal matches, since the first time he beat him in the 2006 edition 6-4, 6-4 and retired, also in a quarterfinal instance.
Djokovic will take on the match after an impeccable campaign in which he did not drop a set and scored four wins over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka (99), Slovakia’s Alex Molcan (38), Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene (195) and Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman ( 16).
Nadal, for his part, left Australian Jordan Thompson (82), Frenchman Corentin Moutet (139), Dutchman Botic Van De Zandschulp (29) and finally Canadian Félix Auger Aliassime (9) in the fifth set and after four hours and 22 minutes of battle.
The winner of the cross between the Serbian and the Spanish will play one of the semifinals of Roland Garros against the winner of the tie that will star from 10 also on the central court the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz (6) and the German Alexander Zverev (3).
The quarterfinals of the men’s draw of the French Grand Slam, on a clay surface and with prizes of 21,256,800 euros, will continue tomorrow with the following matches:
Casper Ruud (Norway, 8) against Holger Rune (Denmark, 40) and Andrey Rublev (Russia, 7) against Marin Cilic (Croatia, 23).
With information from Telam
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