Rafael Nadal’s routine trek through the top section of the French Open draw is expected to continue when he meets unseeded Maximilian Marterer on Monday. Kevin Anderson and Diego Schwartzman are also aiming for a place in the quarterfinals.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Maximilian Marterer
While there has been plenty of intrigue throughout a packed bottom half of the French Open draw, where contenders like Alexander Zverev and David Goffin have been slogging through five-setters left and right, Nadal is making expectedly routine work on the other side. The 10-time Roland Garros champion had to fight off a stern test from Simone Bolelli in his opener with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(9) victory, but he dropped a grand total of 11 games against Guido Pella and Richard Gasquet. Nadal is now 82-2 lifetime at this tournament and 107-2 in best-of-five matches on clay during his illustrious career.
A much different left-hander will be on the other side of the net on Monday. Marterer is 10 years younger than Nadal (who turned 32 on Sunday) and had never won an ATP-level match prior to this season. But it is all coming together for the up-and-coming German, who is 14-9 in 2018 with a third-round performance at the Australian Open, a semifinal run in Munich, and French Open victories over Ryan Harrison, Denis Shapovalov, and Jurgen Zopp. It goes without saying, though, that Marterer has never played on this kind of stage and he has also never faced an opponent of this caliber. Marterer owns a decent amount of firepower, but nowhere near enough to prevent his Roland Garros run from ending in swift fashion at Nadal’s hands.
Pick: Nadal in 3 losing 8-10 games
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(11) Diego Schwartzman vs. (6) Kevin Anderson
Who is the only player left in the tournament who has lost fewer games than Nadal? That would be none other than Schwartzman, who did not drop a set and surrendered a total of 21 games while disposing of Calvin Hemery, Adam Pavlasek, and Borna Coric on his way to the second week. The 12th-ranked Argentine thrashed both Hemery and Pavlasek 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 before making surprisingly quick 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 work of Coric. Schwartzman is now an outstanding 10-2 in his last 12 Grand Slam matches, a stretch that also features a quarterfinal finish at the U.S. Open and a fourth-round appearance in Melbourne.
Up next for the 11th seed on Monday is a third career showdown against Anderson, who leads the head-to-head series 2-0. The seventh-ranked South African prevailed 7-6(5), 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 at the 2015 Australian Open and 7-6(4), 6-3 one season later on the red clay of Nice. Anderson has also improved greatly since those meetings, most notably enjoying a string of 2017 majors in which he reached fourth rounds at the French Open and Wimbledon to go along with a runner-up showing at the U.S. Open. The No. 6 seed earned his spot in the last 16 this time around by taking out Paolo Lorenzi, Pablo Cuevas, and Mischa Zverev. Anderson has not impressed as much as his opponent through three rounds and this surface should help Schwartzman withstand some huge hitting and play his way into extended baseline rallies.
Pick: Schwartzman in 5
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Good he broke back but that was an unbelievably sloppy game!
Rafa seems to have these mental lapses.
Schwartzman up a break in the fifth set.
Is he rushing and losing focus because of the impending storms?
We know he is afraid of them!
I don’t know what’s up with him.
Guillermo Coria wins. Wow!
Rafa feels the pressure like anyone else. That’s the key, put him under pressure and you have a chance
Hahaha! What a joke!
I don’t like how rafa has played this set. He has been very sloppy and erratic!
Rafa playing some horrible tennis in set three! What brain freeze with that slice! He better hold serve now, if not Marterer will be serving for the set! What is Rafa doing??
Schwartzman came from two sets down to beat Anderson..
Very irritated with Rafa taking so long to serve! Well deserved docking of his first serve in that point!
Rafa is making this harder in the third set.
His timing has really gone off😕
They said Serena pulled out with an arm injury.
I hate his stupid errors & playing passively too!…And taking a millenium just to serve!Urgh!!…I grown a grey hair just to wait for him to serve!..but…heh heh…i guess he’s just a human being…and i think a little bit vulnerable from mental POV after his anxiety/doubt attack in 2015…So,i guess we have to contend with what Rafa has to offer nowadays…Some things r just hard to xplain…
Rafa is really making this harder on himself.
This has been a lousy set from Rafa.
deserves to lose this set
Rafa’s balls are getting shorter and shorter, landing very close to the serving box, no wonder Marterer could step in to take the ball and redirect it.
Rafa playing like this is not going to last; he’ll lose this third set and gets a wake up call.
This is like 2015!😢
Finally a great forehand!
Come on rafa!
Pick your game up!
Phewww!!!
Rafa remembered how to play in the tiebreak!!
Well done Rafa, managed to wrap it up in 3 at the end..copped on a bit in the TB
Kudos to Marterer for stretching the 3rd set to a TB but Rafa wasn’t so much on the ball today. Too many celebrations of his birthday yesterday.
Vamos Rafa!
I’m off to have a very, very strong drink. TBs always leave my nerves in shreds.
Rafa did well in the TB. Annacone thinks Rafa did okay, coming back in the TB and playing well.
Maybe we are too hard on Rafa. The standard is so high for him here.