Rafael Nadal's quest to win his tenth French Open title continues today as the Spaniard is up against a compatriot again in Pablo Carreno-Busta after defeating Roberto Bautista-Agut in the previous round. A win today will see Nadal book a place in the semi-finals of the French Open for the first time in three years and given his current form, he will be expected to do so.
Nadal has eased past every opponent he has faced so far at the French Open and is yet to drop a set. The Spaniard was barely made to work in any of his matches and has completely dominated all his opponents, dropping just 20 games across four matches.
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Everyone expected Nadal to be this good in the second Grand Slam of the year after he won three of the four clay-court tournaments leading up to the French Open. He is expected to go all the way and win his tenth title in Paris. However, Carreno-Busta has defeated the likes of Grigor Dimitrov and Milos Raonic to reach the quarter-finals.
The 25-year old Spaniard was expected to get past his first two opponents in Taro Daniel and Florian Mayer but was never expected to make it this far into the tournament. It has been an outstanding 12 months for Carreno-Busta so far. He picked up two ATP titles last year and also won the Estoril Open earlier this year.
His other impressive performances of 2017 have come at the Argentina Open, Brazil Open and the Indian Wells where he reached the semi-finals and he also made it to the finals of the Rio Open. Carreno-Busta definitely has a bright future but the chances of him causing another upset are unlikely.
"Rafa is maybe the best player on this surface in history, and he's playing really good, but I will try. I'm playing good. I'm playing with a lot of confidence. Maybe I'm a little tired, but I have one day off," ATP's official website quoted Carreno-Busta as saying.
"So on Tuesday, we'll see what happens. These quarter-finals are a great opportunity to continue and create my own history."
Carreno-Busta and Nadal have faced each other thrice in the past and all three wins have gone Nadal's way so far and the nine-time French Open champion will be expected to make it four today. There is no doubt that Nadal is in a league of his own at the moment and he is happy with how things have gone so far.
"I am in the quarter-finals, and I am healthy and I am playing well. That's the only important thing for me. The goal is always to try your best every day and to try to be through to the next round. That's what I've done so I'm very happy about the first week of competition, obviously," Nadal said.
Where to watch
The French Open quarter-final match between Rafael Nadal and Pablo Carreno-Busta is set to start tentatively at 3:30 pm local time, 7:00 pm IST and 2:30 pm BST.
TV and live streaming information
India: TV: Star Sports Select HD1. Live Streaming: Hotstar.
Europe: TV: EuroSport. Live Streaming: EuroSport Player.
UK: TV: ITV. Live Streaming: ITV Hub.
Canada: TV: TSN. Live Streaming: TSN TV.
USA: TV: Tennis TV and NBC Sports. Live Streaming: NBC Sports Live.
Australia: TV: Fox Sports. Live Streaming: Foxtel.
Middle East: TV: Bein Sports Arabia. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
