The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Big two on course for last-eight duel
Defending champion Novak Djokovic and 13-time king of clay Rafael Nadal remain on course for a box-office French Open quarter-final after blowing away their third-round opponents.
Lying in wait for each other in the same quarter of the draw due to Nadal’s world ranking of fifth, the big two are due to collide unusually early at Roland Garros this year.
Djokovic, taking centre stage on Court PhilippeChatrier, made short work of subdued Slovenian – and one-time representative of Great Britain – Aljaz Bedene, winning 6-3 6-3 6-2.
At the same time, in one of his occasional appearances on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, Nadal was dealing with Dutchman Botic Van De Zandschulp with relative ease, registering a 6-3 6-2 6-4 victory.
The illustrious duo are matching each other almost stride for stride as they pound their way through the tournament.
They have yet to drop a set and have lost just 23 games apiece so far.
Nadal has lost his serve five times – including during a mild final-set hiccup against Van De Zandschulp – and Djokovic only twice.
Both even had French football royalty watching them; former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was, perhaps predictably, in the red corner of Djokovic, while ex-Real Madrid star Zinedine Zidane took in Nadal’s match – a couple of tasty aperitifs ahead of today’s main course of a Champions League final in Paris.
Djokovic said: “It’s an honour to have these legends of the football world coming to watch myself. And most of the tennis players, we are fans of football.
“I saw Arsene at the beginning of the match. It positively affected me. I had even more motivation to perform well.”
In the most prolific rivalry in men’s tennis, Djokovic has 30 wins to Nadal’s 28 ahead of the eagerly anticipated 59th instalment.
Standing in the way are 15th-seeded Argentinian Diego Schwartzman, who will face Djokovic, and Nadal’s last-16 opponent Felix Auger-Aliassime, the ninth seed.
It is a draw which throws up an intriguing sub-plot as Nadal’s uncle Toni Nadal, who used to coach him, is currently AugerAliassime’s coach.
British interest ended in the singles after a four-set defeat for Cameron Norrie.
The British No 1 was
bidding to reach the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time.
But his hopes were dashed by Russian 21st seed Karen Khachanov, who ran out a 6-2 7-5 5-7 6-4 winner in a game which ended up being played under the Paris floodlights.
Meanwhile, the youngest player left in the women’s draw knocked out the oldest as Coco Gauff beat veteran campaigner Kaia Kanepi.
Gauff, 18, swept past 36-year-old Estonian Kanepi – who turned professional five years before the American was born – in straight sets, 6-3 6-4.
The 18th seed will now face Belgium’s Elise
Mertens, ranked 31, as she attempts to match last year’s run to the quarter-finals.
Fellow teenager Leylah Fernandez is also through, the 19-year-old Canadian beating Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic 7-5 3-6 7-5.
Karolina Muchova was in tears as she was forced to retire from her match against Amanda Anisimova.
The luckless Czech – 2021 Australian Open semi-finalist – was forced to call it a day at 0-3 in the third.
Angelique Kerber, seeded 21, went out in straight sets to Emma Raducanu’s conqueror Aliaksandra Sasnovich.