Djokovic, Berdych Highlight Thursday Play At Roland Garros

Two Top 10 veterans and a pair of rising ATP stars will play for the final spots in the Roland Garros semi-finals on Thursday.

The 26^th meeting between Novak Djokovic against Tomas Berdych is the first scheduled match on Court Philippe-Chatrier. The World No. 1 leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 23-2 and has won their past 10 meetings. But Berdych’s last win did come on clay (Rome 2013) and the Czech has won at least a set against Djokovic the three times they’ve played on the red dirt.

Djokovic, who has won every Grand Slam except Roland Garros, will be trying to reach his 30^th Grand Slam semi-final, including his sixth consecutive in Paris. Berdych, meanwhile, has reached the last four at Roland Garros once before, in 2010.

A trip to the semi-finals and entry into the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings will be on the line when David Goffin and Dominic Thiem meet. Their quarter-final match is the first scheduled contest on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. Goffin, the 12^th seed, has won four of their six FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings. On clay, they’re even 1-1. But Thiem, the 13^th seed, won their most recent contest on clay, a 7-5, 6-2 victory last year in the Gstaad final.

Whoever wins will crack the Top 10 for the first time and could rise as high as No. 7 on Monday if Berdych falls to Djokovic. The loser of the Goffin-Thiem match will still rise to a career-best No. 11 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.