Rafa sets date with Auger-Aliassime in round IV of Roland Garros

Paris: Rafael Nadal on Friday set a date Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round after he maintained his perfect set record this fortnight with a dominant 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over Botic van de Zandschulp at Roland Garros here on Friday.
Auger-Aliassime is coached by Rafael’s former coach and uncle Toni.
Felix Auger-Aliassime is coming to Roland Garros after beating Filip Krajinovic 7-6(3), 7-6(2), 7-5 in another match played today. “Uncle Toni” coached his nephew Nadal from childhood and was a part of his team until stepping away in 2017.
It will be the second ATP Head to Head meeting between the pair, but the first since Toni joined the Canadian team in 2021. Nadal claimed a 6-3, 6-3 victory in their previous meeting in Madrid in 2019.
There is all likelihood of a Nadal-Novak Djokovic show on Sunday if they win their respective fourth round matches. They would lock horns for the 59th time in the last eight.
Earlier, Nadal put in a show the Paris fans had come to watch.
After dropping serve in the opening game of the match, Nadal quickly hit a forbidden gear. He swiftly broke back and prevailed in his next five service games, winning 23 straight points on serve as he snuffed out the drama in the knotty third-round entanglement.
“Today has been a very good test. For two sets and a half I was playing at a very positive level,” Nadal told the media at the post-match press conference.
The World No.5 was firm, powering in the balls from the baseline forcing his ruthless play upon his rival through the match thereon.
Van de Zandschulp showed some defiance until late, when he pushed on aggressively to earn his second break of the match.
From 0-4 down in the third, he rebooted and earned a point in the set, creating a break point as Nadal attempted to serve out the match at 5-4. The Spaniard, however, held on, finishing the match with an 87 percent win rate (40/46) on first serve.
Van de Zandschulp had crafted an upset, defeating Casper Ruud to reach the Munich final last month, but never threatened to hasten past Nadal at Roland Garros.
He is the first Dutchman to battle it out in the third round at French Open since Thiemo de Bakker 2010.
Nadal has perceptibly been in top gear. The Spaniard dropped just 20 games in nine sets to reach the fourth round, keeping alive the possibility of a fifth Roland Garros title without the loss of a set (2008, 2010, 2017, 2020). He improved to 108-3 (.973) at the tournament, with 88 of those wins coming in straight sets (81.5 per cent).
Nadal recorded three hard-court titles to begin the year, but will be sweating it out at the Roland Garros to claim first clay trophy since Rome last May. He could end up claiming the No.22 Grand Slam title, clear of Djokovic and Roger Federer.
Despite missing the start of the European clay swing with a rib fracture, Nadal leads the Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin ahead of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Carlos Alcaraz. (UNI) —{photo credit- ATP Tour}