Zverev-Thiem; Djokovic-Cecchinato: Previewing Tuesday’s Roland Garros QF

Alexander Zverev will go for personal – and possibly Grand Slam – history when he meets Dominic Thiem in the Roland Garros quarter-finals on Tuesday. Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, a man very familiar with this stage in Paris, will try to stop first-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist Marco Cecchinato of Italy. ATPWorldTour.com previews Tuesday’s Roland Garros quarter-finals.

[2] Alexander Zverev (GER) vs. [7] Dominic Thiem (AUT)
Thiem leads FedEx ATP Head2Head series 4-2

The last time they met, a maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title was on the line for Dominic Thiem. But it was Alexander Zverev, loser of all three of their prior clay-court matches, who came through to win his third Masters 1000 title, and second on clay, at the Mutua Madrid Open last month.

Thiem, however, will go for a bit of revenge in Paris as the Austrian looks to reach his third consecutive Roland Garros semi-final. He’s had good luck avenging prior losses so far this fortnight.

In the second round, Thiem beat #NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, whom he had lost to at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in April; and in the fourth round, the 24-year-old right-hander knocked out Japan’s Kei Nishikori, whom he had never taken a set off in their prior two contests.

“I really like best of five, doesn’t matter against who. If it’s against Sascha or anybody else,” said Thiem, whose 33 victories this season are second to only Zverev’s 34.

No one in the draw has become as familiar with five-setters as Zverev has the past 10 days. He became just the eighth player in the Open Era (April 1968) to win three consecutive five-setters in Paris, and the first since Tommy Robredo in 2013. Advance in five against Thiem, and the 21-year-old German will become the first player ever to win four consecutive five-setters at a Grand Slam. He’ll also celebrate making his first Grand Slam semi-final.

“It’s not about learning anymore. It’s about trying to find a way and trying to win. That’s what I have been able to do in the last few matches, and I’m very happy about that. I’m very happy about being in the quarter-finals here with going the hard way, going the long distance every single time and showing myself, showing everybody that I can play for as long as I need to,” Zverev said.

[20] Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs. Marco Cecchinato (ITA)
First FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting

This might be their first tour-level meeting, but Marco Cecchinato, who’s from Italy, and Novak Djokovic, who lives in nearby Monte-Carlo, have known each other for years and have practised together often, Djokovic said, as recently as before the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April.

Few, however, including Djokovic, would have predicted they’d be meeting in the quarter-finals. Before Roland Garros, Cecchinato had been 0-4 in Grand Slam matches: 2015 US Open (l. Mardy Fish); 2016 Australian Open (l. Nicolas Mahut); 2016 Roland Garros (l. Nick Kyrgios); and 2017 Wimbledon (l. Nishikori). Cecchinato fell in the final round of Roland Garros qualifying last year.

Read More: Cecchinato: ‘This Is The Best Moment Of My Life’

Before his maiden ATP World Tour title at the Gazprom Hungarian Open in April, Cecchinato had been 5-29 in all tour-level matches. Yet the 25-year-old Italian, No. 72 in the ATP Rankings, has flipped the switch. He became the lowest-ranked man to reach the quarter-finals in 10 years (No. 80 Ernests Gulbis in 2008).

Cecchinato, who beat eighth seed David Goffin in the fourth round, will go for the biggest win of his career against the 2016 champion Djokovic. The Serbian has reached his second quarter-final of 2018, after making the Rome semi-finals last month.

Beat Cecchinato and Djokovic will reach his 32^nd Grand Slam semi-final – and ninth Roland Garros semi-final – and surge to second place on the all-time Open Era list.

Most Grand Slam semifinal appearances (Open Era)