12th-time Roland-Garros champion, Rafa Nadal, didn’t waste too much time as he defeated US qualifier Sebastian Korda in straight sets to reach the last eight.
The defending champion, who is also seeking his title No.13 in Paris next Sunday, produced yet another ruthless and dominant display as his 97th Roland-Garros match win was a 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 passage past Next Gen qualifier Sebastian Korda on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
The Spaniard is through to a record 14th Roland-Garros quarter-final, where he faces Italian prodigy Jannik Sinner.
Korda, the world No.213 and the son of 1992 Roland-Garros finalist Petr Korda, was making his debut in Paris. The 20-year-old earned many fans with his heroics in the French capital and walks away with lessons learned from his last-16 clash with the King of Clay.
Watch the match highlights below
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The world No.2’s champion’s mentality remains rock solid despite the magnitude of what is on the line this fortnight in Paris.
“I am coming here with a clear goal. My goal is just to be every day at my 100 percent and give me a chance to produce the best result possible. So I am in the quarter-finals, very happy for that. No, I cannot say I feel less pressure now. I feel probably exactly the same,” says the Spaniard.
“I’m just focused on what I am doing and trying to play better every single day, and that’s it. I’m in quarter-finals without losing a set and having very positive scores. So, I can’t complain at all.
“I am doing a lot of things well, I think. Sinner, it will be a tough battle. I am quite happy about the way that I am playing and the practices I am feeling every time a little bit better and better.”
Dominic Thiem passes Hugo Gaston test
US Open champion, Dominic Thiem, looked like the exertions from New York were beginning to tell on him. However, he managed to go past Hugo Gaston, who hadn’t won a tour-level match prior to his Paris heroics.
“Such good fighting qualities from him, I haven’t seen a player like this with so much touch in his hands in a long time. His drop shots are just from another planet, I was sprinting around 400 times to the net,” says Thiem.
“If he continues like this he’s going to be a huge, huge player. He’s going to make a lot of joy in this stadium in the future.”
Hugo Gaston was the phenom who defeated Stan Wawrinka and was on the brink, but a barrage of drop shots, loss of concentration earned the world No.239 a deciding set.
But Thiem just about clinched the telling points to advance 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3 to book a quarter-final clash with his close friend Diego Schwartzman.
Good one King of Clay