A Rafael Nadal vs Novak Djokovic encore at the French Open seems inevitable at this point.
The defending champion and the 13-time champ at the clay courts of Roland Garros are just one more match away from squaring off in a repeat of last year’s semifinal.
Both taking the courts at the same time, registered easy wins to progress to the round of 16.
Nadal did his part by hammering the Dutch 26th seed Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3 6-2 6-4 in the third round.
The Dutchman sprung a surprise on everyone by breaking the Spaniard’s serve in the first game but that only seemed to wake to bear as his delivery looked almost impregnable for the rest of the contest.
Nadal broke the 26-year-old’s service twice in each of the three sets and hit 25 winners while keeping his own unforced errors in check before closing out the contest with an overhead smash down the middle on his second match point.
He will next face Felix Auger Aliassime who is coached by his uncle Toni Nadal.
Djokovic reached the fourth round of the French Open by powering past Aljaz Bedene 6-3 6-3 6-2.
He will now face 15th seed Diego Schwartzmann of Argentina in a bid to write another chapter of Nadal vs Djokovic in the French Open rivalry.
Meanwhile, the rising star of men’s tennis, Carlos Alcaraz, continued his meteoric rise when the Spanish prodigy made light work of American Sebastian Korda 6-4 6-4 6-2 to reach the last 16 of the French Open for the first time.
