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Dialuna 30 Mei 2022

Nadal edges Auger-Aliassime at French Open; Djokovic next

PARIS (AP) — By the end of only descended and the chants of “Ra-fa! With every sprint-slide-and-stretch right-to-a-corner winner; with every
the third five-setter Rafael Nadal has Ra-fa!” filled the evening air, the man to reach a seemingly unreachable shot well-struck volley, Nadal would hop
played in 112 career French Open known as the King of Clay showed off the yellow racket of his opponent, or throw an uppercut or scream “Va-
matches, as the sun and temperature precisely what this meant to him. Felix Auger-Aliassime; with every mos!” — and, often, all of the above.
Nadal got through his first serious
test of this French Open by edg-
ing No. 9 seed Auger-Aliassime 3-6,
6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 across nearly 4 1/2
hours of even, entertaining tennis in
the fourth round Sunday at Court
Philippe Chatrier.
And the reward? A tantalizing match-
up against rival Novak Djokovic,
which will come in the quarterfinals
on Tuesday.
“Of course we know each other well.
We have a lot of history together,”
said Nadal, who hadn’t dropped a set
in the tournament’s first week until
ceding two against Auger-Aliassime,
a big-serving 21-year-old from Cana-
da. “Here we are in Roland Garros. It
is my favorite place, without a doubt.
I don’t know what’s going to happen,
but the only thing I can guarantee is I
am going to fight until the end.”
Nadal improved to 3-0 in five-set
matches at the clay-court tourna-
ment he has dominated the way no
one ever has dominated any Grand
Slam event. Overall he is 109-3 here,
and two of those defeats came against
Djokovic, including in last year’s
semifinals.