
The old guard continue to march on to the 2019 French Open final and the first semi-final will be between old foes second seed Nadal who thrashed seventh seed Nishikori in straight sets yesterday, while Federer had to work much harder to see of compatriot Wawrinka in four sets 7-6 6-7 7-6 6-4 and it could have been a totally different story if Wawrinka had held on to his break in the third set.
Federer’s run to the semi-finals is remarkable at the age of 37 and considering he hasn’t played at this event for four years prior to 2019. However, he faces the King of Clay next and if history repeats itself Nadal has one foot in the final already and there’s realistically only one player who can stop him winning a record twelfth title world number one Djokovic.
Djokovic is in action today from 1pm in the other two quarter finals and he faces fifth seed Zverev who has reached this stage for the second time in his career. Zverev can draw hope from the fact that the head-to-head is 2-2 and he won their last encounter in 2018 at the World Tour Finals. The second quarter final is between fourth seed Thiem and tenth seed Khachanov’s, who is contesting his first Grand Slam quarter final, and history is on his side as he leads the head-to-head 3-0 but all three wins came on hard courts his strongest surface. This will be Thiem’s fourth quarter final at the French Open and he’s defending finals points from last year. This is Thiem’s strongest surface by far and if he plays like he did against Monfils in the fourth round, he should record his first win against the giant big hitting Russian today.
Jo Konta still flies the flag for British tennis fans and without tempting fate she is looking like a potential winner after she thrashed Grand Slam winner and seventh seed Stephens yesterday. Come on Jo you can do it!