Roland Garros, quarter-finals, LIVE: Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal look for a place in the semifinals

A day to remember the one experienced this Tuesday at Roland Garros, with the start of the quarter-finals of the men’s draw as a highlight. The best remained for the end of the day. Because in the last lap of the legendary Philip Chattier The Serbian Novak Djokovic and the Spaniard Rafael Nadal clash in a match of the highest level that will mark the 59th chapter of the longest rivalry in the history of tennis. But the starter wasn’t bad at all. And there was a surprise. Alexander Zverev dealt the blow and knocked Carlos Alcaraz out of the race. The German played the best game of the year, was consistent with his serve and resisted the Spaniard’s reaction by winning 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 to reach the semi-finals in Paris.

The meeting between freight Y Rafa It will be a true clash of the titans. The Serbian, number one in the world, wants to repeat last year’s exultation in the “great” Frenchman and conquer his 21st title in this category, to equal the record that Nadal has today.

The Spaniard, fifth in the standings, is trying to broaden his legend in a race in which no one has won as much as he. There, he raised the trophy 13 times and amassed a record of 109 wins and only three losses. Two of those crashes were for Djokovic, in the quarterfinals of 2015 and in last year’s semifinals.

The match will be the 59th in history between the two, which the Serbian leads with 30 victories. On the 18th they will play a Grand Slam, a record in this category of tournaments for a rivalry between two players. And the tenth that will play on Parisian brick dust, where he dominates Spain with seven wins, three of which in the final (2012, 2014 and 2020).

The two arrived in Paris at different times. Rafa had to take a break after Indian Wells, to recover from a rib stress fracture, and only played two tournaments before Roland Garros, the Masters 1000 in Madrid, where he lost in the quarterfinals, and Roma, in the fall in the round of 16. of final. And Nole, who had missed the most important appointments of the beginning of the year due to his refusal to vaccinate himself against Covid-19, was able to play the entire brick dust tour, in which he was a finalist at the ATP in Belgrade, semifinalist in Madrid and champion in Rome.

The Majorcan survived a tough test in the round of 16 against Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, ninth in the standings and coached by his uncle Tony, who defeated 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6 and 6-3, after four hours and 21 minutes. The Serbian beat Diego Schwartzman, the last Argentine still on track in the tournament, with much more ease, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.

Trevisan and Gauff, in the semifinals

Italian Martina Trevisan, number 59 in the WTA rankings, reached her first semifinal of a Grand Slam tournament on Tuesday by beating Canadian Leylah Fernández (N.18) 6-2, 6-7 (3/7) and 6- 3.

Her rival will be the young American Coco Gauff, who at 18 is # 23 in the WTA, who will also play her first semifinal in Paris after beating veteran Sloane Stephens (# 64 and 29) and 6 7-5. -2.

Trevisan reaches the pinnacle of his career in an important tournament and eliminates one of the most in-form tennis players on the circuit, finalist of the last US Open, who had foot problems during the duel, despite having recovered and maintained the second set.

But that’s not enough and Trevisan, who arrived in Paris with the Rabat title under his arm and who had already played the quarter-finals in Paris two years ago, finished his job and qualified for the semifinal, the first of his career in a big.

The Italian will face Gauff, 18, who had already reached the quarter-finals in Paris last year, becoming the youngest of the top four at Roland Garros since he did so in 2020 to Polish Iga Swiatek, who ended up raising the trophy.

Source: agencies