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Kei Nishikori and Richard Gasquet will meet for the third time in five weeks when the two top seeds clash in the fourth round. Join The Roar for live scores from around 10:30pm (AEST).
Nishikori had a good lead-up to the French Open with some impressive feats in the weeks leading up to the second grand slam of the year.
The Japanese star made a final appearance at Barcelona, losing to the king of clay Rafael Nadal in straight sets 6-4, 7-5.
He then went on to Madrid where he knocked over Aussie Nick Kyrgios in the quarter-finals before meeting world No.1 and eventual winner Novak Djokovic in the semifinals losing 6-3, 7-6.
His next meeting with Djokovic and last appearance before arriving in Paris came in the semifinal stages at Rome winning the first set before dropping the last two 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 to see the Serbian through to the final where he lost to Andy Murray.
Nishikori has now won eight of his last ten matches and experienced some good wins so far at Roland Garros.
He opened his campaign against Simone Bolelli with a straight sets win before doing the same against Andrey Kuznetsov.
The world No.6 then met Fernando Verdasco in the third round being pushed to five sets after the Spaniard came firing back in the third and fourth. He went on to win 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4 and book his place in the fourth round just one victory away from equalling his French Open record of reaching the quarters set last year.
Frenchman Richard Gasquet had a similar run-in to the French Open with tournaments at Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome.
His run at Monaco didn’t last long after losing to compatriot Lucas Pouille in the second round however, he did slightly better at Madrid and Rome reaching the third round at both tournaments before bundling out of both against Nishikori in straight sets.
Gasquet is yet to drop a set with wins over Thomaz Bellucci 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 and Bjorn Fratangelo 6-1, 7-6, 6-3.
He then squared off against Australian Nick Kyrgios, finding himself in the middle of a family affair as Kyrgios lost his temper having a go at brother Christos in his 6-2, 7-6, 6-2 loss.
The 29-year-old has never been past the fourth round having achieved the feat every year since 2011 except for 2014 where he crashed out in the third round after returning from a back injury.
In eight meetings between the pair, Gasquet had a perfect record up until this month when Nishikori won their two most recent encounters.
In Madrid a couple of weeks ago, Nishikori blitzed Gasquet in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 before doing the same 6-1, 6-4 at Rome a week later.
Those two matches have been the only between the two on clay.
The winner will take on either 15th seed John Isner or world No.2 Andy Murray in the quarter-finals.
Prediction
Kei Nishikori will get his third win over Gasquet on clay this year and make a quarter-finals appearance for the second year in a row.
Nishikori in five sets.
Join The Roar for live scores from around 10:30pm (AEST) following the completion of Viktor Troicki and Stan Wawrinka.
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