French Open R4 previews and predictions: Nadal vs. Bautista Agut, Raonic vs. Carreno Busta

It will be an all-Spanish affair when Rafael Nadal continues his French Open campaign against Roberto Bautista Agut during fourth-round action on Sunday. A quarterfinal spot is also up for grabs between Milos Raonic and Pablo Carreno Busta.

(17) Roberto Bautista Agut vs. (4) Rafael Nadal

Nadal was unable to take the court for his third-round match at last year’s French Open. Nikoloz Basilashvili can only wish the story had been a similar one this time around. Instead, a 100 percent Nadal played and played ruthlessly well on Friday, demolishing the Georgian 6-0, 6-1, 6-0 in one hour and 30 minutes. Thus continued a dominant trek through the draw so far, as the nine-time Roland Garros champion has previously crushed Benoit Paire 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 and Robin Haase 6-1, 6-4, 6-3. Nadal is now 75-2 lifetime at this tournament and 20-1 on clay in 2017.

Up next for the world No. 4 on Sunday is a second career meeting with Bautista Agut. The only previous encounter between the two Spaniards came three years ago at the Madrid Masters, where Nadal cruised 6-4, 6-3. Bautista Agut did not exactly bulldoze his way into the last 16 this fortnight like his heavily-favored countryman, but he dropped only two total sets in victories over John Millman, Mikhail Kukushkin (in a fourth-set tiebreaker), and Jiri Vesely. The 17th seed is a stellar 24-9 this season with a title in Chennai. Although Bautista Agut is an all-court player, he is one of the few Spaniards who actually prefers hard courts to clay and he would obviously choose to contest this matchup on any other surface. Another routine day at the office should be in store for Nadal.

Pick: Nadal in 3 losing 8-10 games

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(5) Milos Raonic vs. (20) Pablo Carreno Busta

Raonic and Carreno Busta will be going head-to-head for the fourth time in their careers on Sunday. All three of their previous meetings have gone the way of Raonic, who is a perfect 7-0 in total sets at the Spaniard’s expense with victories last year at Wimbledon, the China Open, and the Paris Masters.

But they have never faced each other on clay, and that is clearly a surface that favors Carreno Busta. On it the 21st-ranked Spaniard has reached five of his six career ATP finals, captured two of his three titles, and earned 20 of his 26 match victories this year. Carreno Busta booked a spot in the French Open fourth round by taking out Florian Mayer, Taro Daniel, and Grigor Dimitrov, surrendering just one set to Daniel in the process. Raonic advanced past Steve Darcis (three), Rogerio Dutra Silva (four), and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (second-set retirement). The sixth-ranked Canadian is a solid 22-6 this year but he has not yet lifted a winner’s trophy and all four of his clay-court losses have come in straight sets (to Marin Cilic, David Goffin, Alexander Zverev, and Tomas Berdych). Raonic will have a tougher time of keeping rallies to a minimum with big serve-forehand combinations that he has in the past against Carreno Busta, who will likely break him down from the back of the court in these conditions.

Pick: Carreno Busta in 4

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