Novak Djokovic awaits popcorn Rafael Nadal clash after reaching French Open quarter final

Novak Djokovic awaits Rafael Nadal after booking his spot in the French Open quarter final with a 6-1 6-3 6-3 win over Diego Schwartzman. The top seed needed just two hours and 15 minutes to overcome the 15th seed and will face a rematch of last year’s semi-final in the next round if the Spaniard can come through his last-16 match later on Sunday.

Djokovic was looking to beat Schwartzman for the seventh time in seven meetings as they met in the fourth round of the French Open. But the Serb almost immediately found himself at a disadvantage with the crowd in favour of his opponent, chanting his name before they even took to court and booing the reigning champion when he arrived on Suzanne-Lenglen for the match.

The world No 1 did not appear bothered by the booing as he opened the game with a comfortable hold and saved two break points in his next service game to win the first of five games in a row. After coming through for 2-1, he broke Schwartzman at the first opportunity in the next game and had three more break points at 4-1, successfully converting the serve and closing out a 6-1 set in 39 minutes.

But momentum seemed to shift at the beginning of the second, as the world No 16 recovered from 0-30 down to start the set with a service hold – his first game since the beginning of the match. And Schwartzman then broke the Serb for the first time before holding for a 3-0 lead.

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Djokovic then showed why he is a two-time former champion in Paris, winning six games in a row to suddenly snatch the second set 6-3. The top seed got back on serve at 2-3 when he was then booed again by the crowd for asking about a line call, and he eventually roared in celebration as he held on for 3-3 before breaking to love and saving a break point to put himself within a game of the set, breaking Schwartzman again to close out the set in X minutes.

The 20-time Major champion extended his run to seven games in a row by starting the second with a hold but the Argentine finally broke Djokovic’s streak by holding for 1-1, now two sets down to the top seed. The third set was more even until Djokovioc save a break point to hold for 3-2, and immediately pounced to get his own break, taking a 4-2 lead to put himself within two games of the quarter-final.

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