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El espa& ;ol Rafael Nadal celebrates after beating the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in a duel in the fourth round of the French Open, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris.
At the end of just the third five-set game Rafael Nadal has held in 112 career French Open matches, as the sun and temperature dropped and chants of “Ra-fa! ¡Rafa!” filled the evening atmosphere, the man known as the King of Clay showed precisely what this meant to him.
With each run, slide and reach for a seemingly unattainable shot off the yellow racket of his opponent, Felix Auger-Aliassime; with each winning shot placed right in a corner; and with each well-landed volley, Nadal would jump or hook or yell “Come on!” –and often all of the above.
Nadal topped his first serious test of this French Open by beating Auger-Aliassime, seeded ninth, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, in almost 4:30 hours of an even and entertaining duel in the fourth round on Sunday at Court Philippe Chatrier.
And the reward? A promising clash with rival Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
“Of course we know each other well. We have a lot of history together,” said Nadal, who had not dropped a set in the first week of the tournament until he lost. two against Auger-Aliassime, a 21-year-old Canadian with a great serve. “ We are at Roland Garros. It is my favorite place, without a doubt. I don’t know what It will happen, but the only thing I can guarantee is that I will fight until the end”.
Nadal improved. He is 3-0 in five-set matches at the clay court tournament he has dominated as no one has dominated a Grand Slam event. Overall he is 109-3 here, and two of those losses came against Djokovic, including in the semifinals last year.
so how significant is their rivalry: Tuesday’s match will be the 59th between the two, more than two other male tennis players have sustained against each other. in the professional era of sports. Djokovic leads 30-28, although Nadal has a 7-2 lead at the French Open. to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the 16th time in his career.
The Serbian and number one in the world recovered He quickly came back after falling behind early in the second set and managed to win. a 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 win over 15th-seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman on Court Susana Lenglen.
Djokovic has won all 12 sets he has played so far in the tournament This year he has lost a total of just 30 games in four matches.
He trailed 3-0 in the second set before winning seven straight games to take that set and take a lead 1-0 in the third.
Djokovic has reached the quarterfinals in Paris for 13 consecutive years. won the title in 2016 and last year, part of his collection of 20 Grand Slam trophies. Only one man has won more: Nadal, with 21. into the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the fourth time thanks to a 7-6 (11), 7-5, 6-3 victory over Spain’s Bernabé Zapata Miralles, number 131 in the world ranking.
Zverev, 25, will face in the quarterfinals to the 19-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who leads the circuit with four titles this year. Alcaraz, number six in the world, defeated 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 against Russian Karen Khachanov, 21st in the world rankings. Alcaraz played with approaches from the bottom of the court towards the net and shots lobbed between the legs.
Zverev lost. in the semifinals he did a year ago at the French Open. Her best Grand Slam performance was as runner-up at the 2020 US Open.
Teenager Coco Gauff achieved success. She advanced to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the second year in a row by surprising Belgian Elise Mertens with a 6-4, 6-0 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Leylah Fernandez, US Open runner-up , also advanced with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Amanda Anisimova. 7-6 (10), 7-5 Aliaksandra Sasnovich to reach the quarterfinals in France for the second time in three appearances.