On Day 9 both the male and female world number ones will take the court. Rafael Nadal will again be a heavy favorite today against 70th-Ranked Maximillian Marterer. Simona Halep faces a stiffer test in Elise Mertens, a semifinalist this year in Melbourne.
2016 French Open Champion Garbine Muguruza will also be a big favorite against Lesia Tsurenko, especially considering how awesome Muguruza played in the first week. Marin Cilic continues to efficiently move the draw without any fanfare, despite the fact that he’s the third seed, a major champion, and a finalist at two of the last three majors. He’s playing well on his weakest surface, and faces the ever-talented but unpredictable Fabio Fognini. And we’ll also have the conclusion of Caroline Wozniacki’s fourth round match against Daria Kasatkina, where the young Russian is up a set in what’s been a really fun match filled with tactical tennis. But here are the four matches this writer will be watching most closely on Monday.
Maria Sharapova vs. Serena Williams
As highly-anticipated as this match is, there really isn’t an on-court rivalry to speak of. Sharapova hasn’t beaten Serena in nearly 14 years. And it’s been over five years since Maria even took a set, with Serena winning the last 16 sets they’ve played. Overall Serena leads their head-to-head 19-2, and has won their last 18 meetings. It’s the off-court rivalry that’s been a lot more heated over the years. Most recently, Sharapova speculated in her autobiography that Serena has resented her since losing the 2004 Wimbledon final. Maria wrote about Serena crying in the locker room after that loss, and Serena knowing that Maria heard her. When asked about this in the press on Saturday, Serena dismissed many of the words written about her in the book as “hearsay.” It’s abnormal for athletes to write about their current rivals, especially revealing locker room details such as this. Serena also told the press on Saturday that Sharapova is definitely the favorite in this fourth round encounter, but I’m not buying Serena as being genuine. It sounds more like she’s trying to take the pressure off herself and put it onto Sharapova. But if Sharapova is ever going to defeat Serena again, this may be her best shot. While Serena has looked better and better as the tournament has progressed, this will be just the eighth singles match of her return from a year out of the sport due to her pregnancy and complicated child birth. On the court, Serena has always done everything a bit better than Maria. Sharapova will need to count on Serena’s movement, serving, and winner-to-error ratio all being worse than usual. That could happen, though given their history and shared animosity, it’s hard to bet against Serena. At least unlike most of their matches from the past decade, there’s some suspense as to just how this one will play out. The winner may have Muguruza awaiting their arrival in the quarterfinals.
Caroline Garcia vs. Angelique Kerber
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While Kerber is a two-time major champion, Garcia may just be the favorite here. Angelique has a 4-2 career edge over Caroline, but it’s the Frenchwoman who has been the better clay player over the past few years. Garcia made the quarters of her home Slam just last year. Kerber is also a former Quarterfinalist here from 2012, but suffered first round losses in both 2016 and 2017. Garcia had a strong lead-up to this tournament, going 9-3 in the European clay lead-up events. Kerber was just 4-4 on European clay coming into this event, including two Fed Cup losses in her home country of Germany. It’s also worth considering all of Kerber’s wins against Garcia have come on hard courts. Garcia should return to the quarterfinals to the delight of the Parisian crowd, and if so would face either Elise Mertens or Simona Halep.
Juan Martin Del Potro vs. John Isner
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This will not be your typical clay court contest, between the 6’6” Argentine and the 6’10” American. There will be lots of big serving, big groundstrokes, and shortened points. Their head-to-head is rather close: Del Potro has a slight 6-4 edge, though Isner won the last two meetings. However, those matches took place at the Paris Masters last year and the Miami Masters this year, with Del Potro clearly being physically spent on both those occasions. This will be the first time they’ve faced each other on clay. Del Potro has been showing no signs of the groin injury that caused doubts over whether he’d even play at this tournament. Isner has now matched his best Roland Garros result by making the round of 16, going 6-1 in tiebreaks to get here. All three of Isner’s matches have been played on Court 18, and Isner himself admits the smaller court area there has helped the big server. Playing on Court Suzanne-Lenglen will be a fresh experience for Isner, and should be advantage Del Potro. Juan Martin is the more accomplished player on clay, but if Isner can get into a few more tiebreaks, he has a shot here. Del Potro has twice been farther than the fourth round at Roland Garros, and I suspect he’ll do it for a third time on Monday.
Kevin Anderson vs. Diego Schwartzman
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You’ll rarely see a bigger discrepancy in heights, as 13 inches separate the 6’8” Anderson and 5’7” Schwartzman. Neither man has been farther than the fourth round at Roland Garros, but both have had recent success at the majors. Schwartzman has now advanced to the round of 16 or better at the last three majors, including his only previous major quarterfinal last year in New York. At the Australian Open earlier this year, he played a really high quality fourth round match against Rafael Nadal. Diego then went on to capture the title in Rio de Janeiro, but following that had just as many losses as wins coming into this tournament. Anderson has already gotten to the quarterfinals or better at six tournaments in 2018, and he may make that seven on Monday. The South African is 2-0 lifetime against Schwartzman, with one win at a major and one win on clay. But Schwartzman was the more impressive player in the first week of Roland Garros. He’s yet to drop a set, and surprised many by taking out Borna Coric so comfortably. The shared strong wills amongst these men, paired with the contrasting styles, should make for a highly entertaining, and likely extended, round of 16 clash.
Order of play
Court Philippe-Chatrier
Play starts at 11am
Simona HALEP (ROU) [1] vs Elise MERTENS (BEL) [16]
Rafael NADAL (ESP) [1] vs Maximilian MARTERER (GER)
Serena WILLIAMS (USA) vs Maria SHARAPOVA (RUS) [28]
Marin CILIC (CRO) [3] vs Fabio FOGNINI (ITA) [18]
Court Suzanne-Lenglen
Play starts at 11am
Diego SCHWARTZMAN (ARG) [11] vs Kevin ANDERSON (RSA) [6]
Angelique KERBER (GER) [12] vs Caroline GARCIA (FRA) [7]
John ISNER (USA)[9] vs Juan Martin DEL POTRO (ARG) [5]
Garbiñe MUGURUZA (ESP) [3] vs Lesia TSURENKO (UKR)
