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In what should be the most intriguing quarter-final of the lot at the French Open, Marin Cilic and Juan Martin Del Potro will square off for a spot in the final four. Join The Roar for live scores from around 11:30pm (AEST).
While getting to the semi-finals is the ultimate goal out of this match for both players, energy conservation will also be in the back of the mind. Next on the list is Rafael Nadal, who is unlikely to lose his quarter-final to Diego Schwartzman as he guns for French Open title No.11.
Regardless, this match should be a cracker with two of the best players in the world going at it hammer and tongs.
Interestingly, Del Potro has all the wood over Cilic with ten wins out of their previous 12 meetings, including a straight-set domination in Basel at the back-end of last year and four out of four wins on clay.
It leaves the Argentinian, whose comeback story is among the more inspirational ones, as raging favourite for this match. He has brought his world ranking all the way back up to six and hardly had a problem at the second grand slam of the year.
While his first three rounds were impressive, sending John Isner packing on Monday was superb. The American was considered one of the challengers to the crown, so for Del Potro to win in straight sets shows exactly where his level is at.
Cilic has had problems on clay in the past – not enough to prevent him from sitting near enough to the top of the world – but still problems.
He is coming off a final appearance at the Australian Open and some strong lead-up form, which, so far at Roland Garros has translated into four strong wins.
After three wins without much bother, the Croatian ran into Fabio Fognini during the fourth round, being stretched all the way to five sets where he won 6-3. It will leave him wondering about the errors off his racquet, but the fact he was able to pull himself out of it should give some momentum heading into the quarter-final.
Prediction
This should be a cracking match. The form of Cilic says he will take it right to Del Potro, but with past history and experience on clay coming into play, Del Potro should edge him out.
Del Potro in four sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this fourth-round match from 11:30pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.