A trio of Top 10 seeds, a former champion and Japan's finest lead a blockbuster Day 8 at Roland Garros. ATPWorldTour.com previews Sunday's fourth-round action in Paris... [7] Dominic Thiem (AUT) vs. [19] Kei Nishikori (JPN) Nishikori leads FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-0 It's the popcorn match of the fourth round. Two of the most in-form players on the ATP World Tour are set to light up Court Philippe Chatrier, as Nishikori and Thiem battle for the first time in two years. Both players are coming off final appearances at clay-court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, with Nishikori finishing runner-up in Monte-Carlo and Thiem doing so in Madrid. And they have each dropped just two sets en route to...
You have to wonder, somewhere deep inside Alexander Zverev's head, was there a doubt swirling around, saying “Here we go, again?” Zverev has won three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles but never reached the quarter-final of a Grand Slam. And during his second-round match on Wednesday at Roland Garros, the 21-year-old fell behind two sets to one against Serbian Dusan Lajovic, who has been playing fine clay-court tennis, having reached the quarter-finals at the Mutua Madrid Open. At the Australian Open, Zverev was in a similar spot, and faded. He led two sets to one against reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hyeon Chung, but lost the last two 3-6, 0-6. On Wednesday, however, perhaps Zverev turned a corner....
Regarding Juan Martin del Potro's chances at Roland Garros, where were we? The Argentine, despite his subpar play on clay so far this year, was one of a limited number of men who could think about challenging Rafael Nadal on the red dirt. But then Del Potro injured his groin against David Goffin on 17 May in Rome. On Tuesday, however, the fifth-seeded Del Potro let everyone resume the conversation as he dismissed Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in four sets. Del Potro showed that he's healthy, back and – although clay isn't his favourite surface – eager for more. He'll face another Frenchman on Thursday in Julien Benneteau. The 36-year-old is playing at Roland Garros for the final time after announcing...
First-round play reaches its conclusion on Tuesday at Roland Garros, and while plenty of stars took to the courts during the Grand Slam's first two days, tournament officials have saved some of the best first-round matchups for the last of their opening days. Third seed Marin Cilic kicks off play on Court Philippe-Chatrier against Aussie James Duckworth. Cilic reached his maiden ATP World Tour clay-court semi-final at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia earlier this month (l. to Zverev), snapping a five-match losing streak in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court quarter-finals. [ALSO LIKE] The Croatian has reached two of the past three Grand Slam title matches (Wimbledon 2017, l. to Federer; Australian Open 2018, l. to Federer). He posted his best...
Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka – winners of 12 of the past 13 Roland Garros titles – all will be in action on Monday as first-round play continues in Paris. The top-seeded Nadal commences another attempt at history this fortnight. The Spaniard is trying to become the first man – and only the second player – in history to win 11 singles titles at any Grand Slam tournament. Australian Margaret Court won the Australian Open 11 times, including six before the Open Era began in April 1968 (1960-66, 1969-1971, 1973). Nadal meets a familiar opponent on Court Philippe-Chatrier in Italian Simone Bolelli. The two have faced off five times in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, and Nadal has...