01:02 PM
Good afternoon!
Hello again and welcome to coverage of the first men’s quarter-final of the day between Rafael Nadal vs Diego Schwartzman.
Beating Nadal on a clay court, at the French Open, is one of the hardest tasks in sport. The Spaniard has won his last 35 sets in Paris and hasn’t been beaten at Roland Garros since 2016.
Schwartzman has won just once in 11 meetings with Nadal but the Argentine is still relishing the chance to play the ‘King of Clay’.
“If you think about the four, five hours you are going to play, if you think about everything about Rafa in Roland Garros, he’s very difficult to play,” Schwartzman said.
“You have to go on court, think about the tactics, think about how to play your best game.
“Playing against Rafa in these kinds of tournaments, it’s always a good time to know how good are you playing,” Schwartzman said. “It’s always a good challenge. I want to be there one more time.”
The winner of this match will play either Novak Djokovic or Matteo Berrettini in the semi-finals on Friday.
The other semi-final will see Stefanos Tsitsipas meet sixth seed Alexander Zverev. Both men came through their quarter-finals matches in straight sets.
And Tsitsipas, a loser of his previous three Grand Slam semis, said afterwards that he believed he could go on and claim the title.
“I don’t think there’s a player out there that thinks they can’t win the tournament,” he said.
“Of course I’m playing good, and I think if I keep repeating the process, keep repeating the everyday hustle that I put, for sure there’s going to be a reward, and why not?”
So stay with us for full build up, live updates and reaction as the tournament approaches the business end ahead of finals weekend.