French Open 2018: Savour Rafael Nadal's bid for 11th French title
May 24, 2018 16:42 ISTNadal is 79-2 for his career in the French Open, a .975 winning percentage and he is 104-2 in all best-of-five-set matches on clay.
Nadal is 79-2 for his career in the French Open, a .975 winning percentage and he is 104-2 in all best-of-five-set matches on clay.
As usual, all eyes are on Serena Williams, no matter what — whether she's attending the most talked-about wedding of the year or practicing at Roland Garros.
Despite playing three major finals, Simona Halep has yet to overcome a mental barrier which has kept her away from getting her hands on the coveted Grand Slam trophy.
Without a seeding, the 23-time Grand Slam champion risks facing highly ranked players in the early rounds.
Nadal will reclaim the No. 1 ranking on Monday from Roger Federer, who is sitting out the clay season to prepare for Wimbledon.
Nadal improved to 5-0 in his career against Zverev and gained an extra measure of confidence entering the French Open, which starts next Sunday.
The top-seeded stormed into the last-four of Rome Masters after easing past seventh-seed Caroline Garcia of France 6-2, 6-3 in a one-sided quarter-final clash that lasted one hour and 14 minutes.
Defending champion Elina Svitolina returned to the Italian Open final with a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 win over 26th-ranked Anna Kontaveit.
Nadal and Djokovic have played each other 50 times but their last meeting came more than a year ago, when Nadal won in the Madrid Open semifinals.
For a spot in the final, Nadal will play four-time Rome champion Novak Djokovic or Kei Nishikori.
Nadal, who hasn't won the Italian Open since 2013, will next face Fabio Fognini, who beat Peter Gojowczyk 6-4, 6-4 to reach his first quarterfinal in 11 appearances at his home tournament.
The seventh-seeded Indo-French pair lost 6-7(5) 4-6 to their unseeded opponents of Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers in one hour and 32 minutes.
Halep needed to reach the quarterfinals to progress further than No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki to hold onto the top spot, and she accomplished the first task.
Nadal, a seven-time Rome champion, routed 31st-ranked Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-0.
The tournament will mark the 23-time Grand Slam champion's first major since returning to the tour from maternity leave.
The 21-year-old Zverev won his eighth career title and second of the season after also winning the Munich Open last weekend.
Thiem beat the sixth-seeded Anderson after breaking both of his first service games in each set.
Nadal hadn't lost a single set on clay since falling to Thiem at the Rome Open quarterfinals one year ago.
Kiki Bertens beat seventh-seeded Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the Madrid Open final on Friday.
Pliskova's only prior victory from a previous seven matches against Halep was in the 2016 Fed Cup.
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