Nadal survives 5-setter to advance; Djokovic next up
By the end of only the third five-setter Rafael Nadal has played in 112 career French Open matches, as the sun and temperature descended and the chants of “Ra-fa! Ra-fa!” filled the evening air, the man known as the King of Clay showed precisely what this meant to him.
With every sprint-slide-andstretch to reach a seemingly unreachable shot off the yellow racket of his opponent, Felix Auger-Aliassime; with every right-to-a-corner winner; with every well-struck volley, Nadal would hop or throw an uppercut or scream “Vamos!” — and, often, all of the above.
Nadal got through his first serious test of this French Open by edging No. 9 seed Auger-Aliassime 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 across nearly 4 1/2 hours of even, entertaining tennis in the fourth round Sunday at Court Philippe Chatrier.
And the reward? A tantalizing matchup against rival Novak Djokovic, which will come in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
“Of course we know each other well. We have a lot of history together,” said Nadal, who hadn’t dropped a set in the tournament’s first week until ceding two against Auger-Aliassime, a big-serving 21-year-old from Canada. “Here we are in Roland Garros. It is my favorite place, without a doubt. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but the only thing I can guarantee is I am going to fight until the end.”
Nadal improved to 3-0 in five-set matches at the claycourt tournament he has dominated the way no one ever has dominated any Grand Slam event. Overall he is 109-3 here, and two of those defeats came against Djokovic, including in last year’s semifinals.
Here is how significant their rivalry is: Tuesday’s meeting will be their 59th, more than any other two men have faced each other in the sport’s professional era. Djokovic leads 30-28, although Nadal has a 7-2 advantage at the French Open.
Meanwhile, Third-seeded Alexander Zverev is into his fourth quarterfinal at Roland Garros thanks to a 7-6 (11), 7-5, 6-3 win against 131st-ranked qualifier Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
Zverev lost in the semifinals a year ago at the French Open.
His best Grand Slam showing was as a finalist at the 2020 U.S. Open.
The 25-year-old German will play No. 6 Carlos Alcaraz or No. 21 Karen Khachanov in the quarterfinals.
On the women’s side, American teenager Coco Gauff hit one backhand around the net post in the first set along the way to earning a berth in the French Open quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
The 18-year-old American took over from 4-all in the opening set en route to beating No. 31 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-4, 6-0 at Court Philippe Chatrier on Sunday.
Gauff burst onto the scene at Wimbledon when she was 15 by becoming the youngest qualifier in tournament history, beating Venus Williams and getting all the way to the fourth round.
Her first Grand Slam quarterfinal came in Paris in 2021, when she lost to eventual champion Barbora Krejcikova, and now she’s made it that far again.
The 18th-seeded Gauff’s next opponent will be 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens of the United States, who beat Jil Teichmann 6-2, 6-0.