Rafael Nadal and Diego Schwartzman provided an entertaining French Open quarter-final on Wednesday with the former emerging victorious 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 after dropping his first set of the tournament in Paris.
Nadal improved his career head-to-head record with Schwartzman to 11-1 and remained on course to edge ahead of Roger Federer for a record 21st Grand Slam title.
“It’s always incredible for me to return to the semi-finals for another time,” said Nadal after the match. “Diego is such an amazing player with so much talent, today was a very difficult challenge.”
The Spaniard’s victory over the Argentine on Wednesday was a significant one as it saw an incredible streak of his come to an end. Nadal had won 35 consecutive sets at Roland Garros heading into the match and after he took the first set, he seemed on course for another straight sets win.
However, Schwartzman fought back valiantly to take the second set and stop Nadal’s streak at 36 sets. This was symbolic as it was Schwartzman who had broken a similar French Open streak of Nadal three years ago.
Back in 2018, Nadal was the defending champion and had notched up 38 consecutive sets at Roland Garros. However, he faced Schwartzman in the quarter-finals that year as well and the Argentine played some inspired tennis to take the opening set before going down 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
Here’s Nadal talking to the press after that match in 2018:
Schwartzman joined an elite list by breaking Nadal’s staggering streak for a second time. He is now one of five players to win two or more sets against Nadal at the French open.
Here are some key stats to note after Nadal’s latest win over Schwartzman:
As Victoria Azarenka said earlier:
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