Diego Schwartzman will take on an almost impossible challenge in Roland Garros when they face in the round of 16 Novak Djokovicmaximum favorite and current champion of the Grand Slam French. The littleLocated in the 16th place in the ATP world rankingwill be measured with the Serbian (1) this Sunday not before 8 (Argentina time) on the court Suzanne Lenglen of the Parisian complex located in Bois de Boulognein a game that will be televised by ESPN and the platform Star+.
The duel between the Argentine and the European will be the second of the day that will begin at 6 with the cross between the Italian Martina Trevisan (59) and the Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich (47).
The 29-year-old from Buenos Aires will try to win for the first time against a Nole who seems determined to retain the title and reach the number of 21 Grand Slams won, mark that would allow him to match the owner of the record, the Spanish Rafael Nadal, and in turn go to the Swiss Roger Federeralso with 20 Majors in your collection.
Schwartzman stars in Paris his fourth access to the round of 16 at Roland Garros in the last five years, with the high points of the 2020 semifinals and the 2021 quarterfinals, on both occasions defeated by “Rafa” Nadal. The tennis player emerged from Club Náutico Hacoaj showed during the week a performance from minor to major, with triumphs suffered against the Russian Andrey Kuznetsov (228) in four sets, and to the Spanish Jaume Munar (87) in five sets, to bring out his best version against the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (20), whom he defeated in straight sets and having given up just six gamesby 6-3, 6-1 y 6-2.
Djokovicfor his part, had an impeccable campaign with victories without giving up a set over the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka (99), the Slovak Alex Molcan (38) and the Slovenian Aljaz Body (195). In the previous antecedents, the Balkan has everything to win, in fact he beat the Argentine the six times they were face to face: US Open 2014, Roland Garros 2017, Rome 2019 and 2020 in the final, Australia 2020 and the same year in the group stage of the Masters played in London.
The winner of the match between Schwartzman y Djokovic will play in the quarterfinals against the Spanish Rafael Nadal (5) or the Canadian Félix Auger Aliassime (9). Rafa13-time champion at Roland Garros, will face the Canadian this Sunday not before 10 in the third shift of the central court schedule Philippe Chatrier.
Other attractive matches that he proposes on Sunday in Paris are the ones that will encourage the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz (6) with Russian Karen Khachanov (25) and German Alexander Zverev (3) against the surprising Spanish Bernabe Zapata Miralles (131), who came through the rankings and had the pleasure of winning three matches.
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