Third-round action at the French Open gets underway on Friday, with the loaded top half of the draw back on the court. Rafael Nadal is going up against Botic van de Zandschulp, while a red-hot Grigor Dimitrov faces Diego Schwartzman.
(26) Botic van de Zandschulp vs. (5) Rafael Nadal
Nadal’s clay-court preparation for the French Open was disappointing, but that does not seem to matter now that he finds himself on his Roland Garros stomping grounds. The 13-time champion looked like his normal self in a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 tournament-opening rout of Jordan Thompson and in a 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Corentin Moutet on Wednesday night. Nadal is now 107-3 lifetime at the French Open.
That is bad news for van de Zandschulp, the 21-time Grand Slam winner’s third-round opponent on Friday. This marks the first-ever meeting between the two players, which is not too surprising since van de Zandschulp really broke onto the scene just last season. The 26-year-old Dutchman is up to No. 29 in the world thanks in part to a 2021 U.S. Open quarterfinal run and so far this fortnight he has ousted Pavel Kotov and Fabio Fognini with little trouble. Van de Zandschulp has more firepower than Thompson and Moutet with which to hurt Nadal, but on this surface even he is unlikely to offer much resistance.
Pick: Nadal in 3
(18) Grigor Dimitrov vs. (15) Diego Schwartzman
Schwartzman and Dimitrov will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers on Friday. Dimitrov is leading the head-to-head series 3-1 after winning three in a row, most recently via a 6-0, 6-3 blowout at the Madrid Masters a few weeks ago. Their only previous Grand Slam encounter came at Wimbledon in 2017, when the Bulgarian cruised 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-2.
Dimitrov has made even quicker work of his opponents so far this fortnight, erasing Marcos Giron 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 and Borna Coric 6-0, 6-4, 6-3 in the first two rounds. Schwartzman needed four sets against Andrey Kuznetsov and five to get past Jaume Munar, so his form has not really improved from second-round losses in Madrid (to Dimitrov) and Rome (to Marcos Giron). The 16th-ranked Argentine flirted with disaster against Munar and a more experienced, confident opponent will likely send him packing.
Pick: Dimitrov in 4
Folks what ure take thus far? Seems everyone is playing very well and it’s just the third round 😱interesting RG 22!!
Rafa seems to be playing close to his normal rate now. Like the aggression and depth of shorts. Vamos, champ!
I think he is playing very well Mona! His fh has been almost faultless.
Zandschulp hasn’t been able to handle the spin at all.
Rafa’s return has been excellent.
Rafa settled down and wins the first set!
Vamos Rafa!
Rafa has never played this guy. Forehand is very good. Rafa needs to work out the kinks and get better with every match.
Auger Aliassime is looking good. Novak hasn’t played anyone who can trouble him. Auger-Aliassime is a tough fourth round opponent as the no. 9 seed.
Krajinovic is 6-5 in the second according to my screen. I hope he can do some damage.
He did. He fought off set points. Make Auger-Aliassime work for it.
Yes Augier looks very tough but if Rafa gets past him at least it would be a great work out in preparation for u know who 😝
Mona,
I agree with you. That will be the first real challenge for Rafa. He needs that before u know who! 😘
Rafa breaks! He is looking very comfortable out there. With each match he is getting better. Forehand is on fire.
Rafa playing like a champ today!
Very focused. Is the speed on his serve up? I don’t have any commentary!!
🤣😂😂🤣🤣 yes NNY, “u know who” is right!!
Yes Rafa is really impressive, I like how he’s shutting this kid down. I was just mentioning to my mom it’s reminiscent of the old days when he was just beating u to a pulp no matter what the score!! He seems to be in his element today granted this is not a real great test but still it shows how well he can play!! I’m hoping for a breadstick here!! Vamos, Rafa!!
I can’t figure out the speed because it’s not in mph. But I am very curious as to whether Rafa is serving faster.
Right now he is cruising. Auger-Aliassime had to work for it but he is up two sets.
Yeah Augier served for 2nd but got broken! Looks like these two r destined to meet 🤪
I think Rafa is ready. He has had three pretty routine matches from guys who can’t really challenge him. It makes me a little nervous, but I know Rafa needs to be challenged.
Don’t think Novak has had any test either!! His matches have kinda been routine 😃 but he still looks good as well as Rafa!
Ah getting broken to go up 5:1 arrrrgggghhhh!! Vamos, Rafa!! Put ure back into it!!
Come on Rafa!
Yeah. All how I try To get used to Rafa”s third set hibbie jibbies I just can’t! This match should have been done already @ 6:2 sigh!!
Hurry Rafa, off to the locker room for I!! Vamos!!
Hibbie jibbees! That’s a good phrase! Why? Every time! He can’t do this against Auger-Aliassime.
Finally!!!! I will just put it down to old age but Rafa really needs to be more efficient at closing his sets and matches! Phew! But glad he lives to fight another day! Vamos!!
The French really do love him loads eh?! 😝🤪
But give Rafa that eh, he always provides an upfront take on his performance. He’s happy to say that this was the best performance in the tournament thus far and he is right!
Did u c that little kid come up to Rafa after the match? That’s was so adorable but how did that happen? 🤣
Mona,
It was Rafa’s best performance so far. After the match for the first time he looked really happy. The only blip was serving gif the match. He gets the yips.
I saw that. Who was the little girl? I don’t know how she got there.
Between Novak n rafa who is looking sharper ? Rafas 4th round is way tougher than Novaks..who will get the night match on Sunday?
Schwartzman would be even more tougher for Rafa and his foot.
Amen to that! Schwartzman has never beaten Novak. But he would be a nightmare for Rafa with the foot. Auger-Aliassime will be the guest tough opponent for Rafa.
I am glad Rafa isn’t playing Diego. God knows we have seen enough mega stressful matches involving him at RG.
I am nervous about the match with FAA but if Rafa plays as he did today he will win.
Rafa is playing way better than he did last year. By this time last year I didn’t think he was going to win. He has been way stronger mentally this year.
I didn’t know Rafa’s R3 opponent was ranked at no.29, quite high. Rafa made him looked like he’s ranked in the 100s for two sets.
Rafa could have won the third set at 5-1 or 5-2 but instead made a mess out of it. His opponent had raised his level by going for broke, and Rafa mentioned that he himself was getting nervous nearing the end of the match hence all the errors.
Rafa as usual these days, would throw in a poor service game at least, in each match, and that’s worrying against top ten players (from R4 onwards he will be facing top ten players all the way unless these top ten players themselves are being kicked out by their respective opponents).
Rafa n Felix have never played right? This one will not be easy..Felix almost took out Medvedev at ao.had match points
Played once, on clay at Madrid in 2019; Rafa won in straight sets.
I expect Rafa to win this R4 match. FAA had to fight hard to win his matches, and his opponents so far weren’t of Rafa’s calibre.
Rafa would as usual lose his serve once or twice during the match and so the match may become more competitive.
Novak always seems sharper bcoz of his game style, he has a better serve so he gets a lot of cheap points. And too Novak has not had much resistance in his matches as such so it’s kinder easy for him to look sharp. However, if Rafa fairs well against Felix he will be in good shape to take Novak down! 🙏🏽
I haven’t seen much of Novak. But he has had very easy opponents so he should win easily and look good. He does have that serve and that helps him when he is in trouble.
Rafa has to get through Felix first.
Djoko was playing quite well, hadn’t reached top form yet. He was too good for his opponents so far, as usual. Schwartzman may provide a bit of a challenge but not much I feel. Schwartzman is not playing well unlike in the past; so I won’t be surprised Djoko would beat him in straight sets, or at worst loses a set to win in four.
Novak was asked would be prefer to play rafa at day or night he said both would make different scheduling requests…
If both make it through..I’m sure they will give Novaks request preference over rafa, depends who Amelie likes more