Nadal, Djokovic chase history at Roland Garros; Andreescu enters Strasbourg last 8

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will set their sights on more Grand Slam history at Roland Garros as the French Open embraces a new and eerily empty era of night time tennis.

A 14th title in Paris for Nadal would take him to a record-setting 21st major, surpassing the mark he shares with Roger Federer who has already written off his hopes of adding to his lone success in the French capital back in 2009.

Djokovic, the champion in 2016, can move to 19 Grand Slam titles with victory.

That would make the world number one the first man in over half a century to win all four majors on multiple occasions.

Nadal arrives in Paris buoyed by having defeated Djokovic in the Rome Masters final in what was the pair’s 57th meeting.

It was Nadal’s 10th title in the Italian capital.

Not that he was reading too much into the statistics as far as Roland Garros is concerned.

“I think I can work on a couple of things that I can do a little bit better,” he insisted.

“I just need to keep going. I know what I need to work on and I’m going to do it. Work, relax mentally, and work the right way.”

At last year’s delayed Roland Garros, Nadal swept past Djokovic in straight sets in the final.

It was Nadal’s 100th win at the tournament against just two losses since his 2005 title-winning debut.

Giving Djokovic hope, however, is the knowledge that he was responsible for one of those losses, in the 2015 quarter-finals.

He is also a four-time runner-up although three of those defeats in the championship match came against the Spaniard.

Only two men have previously managed to win all four of the Slams on more than one occasion -- Roy Emerson and Rod Laver of Australia.

Laver’s achievement came back in 1969.

“I think I have a good chance to go all the way in Paris, but of course it’s a long shot,” said Djokovic who captured the season’s first Grand Slam title in Australia for a ninth time in February.

Federer, with his 40th birthday fast approaching, remains the sentimental favourite but his priority will be an assault on Wimbledon where he has been champion eight times.

“I’m not so sure in the last 50 years of the French Open, somebody just rocks up at nearly 40 years old, being out for a year and a half, and wins everything straight,” said Federer after losing his only clay court match this year in Geneva last week.

Of the chasing pack, two-time runner-up Dominic Thiem is low on form and confidence. A run to the Madrid semi-finals was followed by a straight sets defeat to Cameron Norrie in his Lyon opener.

World number two Daniil Medvedev has yet to win a match at Roland Garros in four attempts.

Meanwhile, top seed Bianca Andreescu added another clay-court match-win to her resume as she advanced into the quarter-finals of the Strasbourg Open on Tuesday with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over qualifier Maryna Zanevska.

Andreescu has now won two matches at a WTA-level clay-court tournament for the very first time in her career -- indeed, her 65-minute win over the Belgian was just her third singles match at a WTA event on the surface in total.

World No.7 Andreescu did not have things her entire way in the match, as she was down a break in the second set at 4-2. However, the Canadian, who won the 2019 US Open, charged back from that deficit to win the final four games of the clash and book her spot in the elite eight.

Zanevska, currently ranked 259th but with a career-high ranking of World No.105, earned her first WTA-level victory since 2018 over fellow qualifier Yuliya Hatouka in the opening round. However, she was unable to claim her first Top 10 victory against Andreescu despite making things competitive in the second set.

No.2 seed Jessica Pegula, meanwhile, saw her Strasbourg campaign come to an early end in the first round. Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands upset the World No.29 from the United States, 6-4, 6-4, in an hour and a half.

Venus Williams, still playing at the age of 40, extended her losing streak to five matches with a three set loss to Sorana Cirstea, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1.

Agencies