French Open: Day 9 – “MaSha” against Serena, Kerber and torture for the quarter-finals

The German-speaking tennis fans have one day break until the hit between Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem. An all-time duel will nevertheless take place on Monday at the French Open 2018.

Thiem-Zverev-Watch: Not that Alexander Zverev gets bored. Another five-set victory, already behind again. Third in a row. A routine must have developed on which the German number one can build. Especially since he feels very fit, as Zverev in the press conference after his match against Karen Khachanov was not tired (!) to emphasize. Especially not mentally.

Anyone who was not at full speed before a quarter-final of a Grand Slam tournament would have missed his profession as a tennis player anyway. That is exactly what neither Alexander Zverev nor Dominic Thiem can claim.

If the memory is not deceptive, he is in the tradition of the great Jürgen Melzer: Thiem also keeps his fingers crossed for the German national football team at the World Cup. The difference to Melzer lies in the (club) detail: while the veteran remains loyal to FC Bayern, FC Chelsea Dominic Thiem has chosen to be his fan. And not vice versa, as Thiem said on the spot a year ago.

Match of the day: Maria Sharapova (RUS/28) against Serena Williams. Of course Philippe Chatrier (third match after 11:00 a.m., in the live ticker) will meet the two ladies for the 22nd time. Sharapova could celebrate her third victory, two days ago this scenario would have been considered very realistic. Then Serena convinced against Julia Görges. To say that the two divas do not like each other is not too daring. Serena has been disturbed by the frequent mentions in Sharapova’s autobiography, the Russian is more disturbed by her poor record.

The German glasses: Angelique Kerber has already worked her way up on Court Suzanne Lenglen (second match after 11:00 a.m., in the live ticker), is allowed to play Caroline Garcia there. Kerber leads in the internal balance with 4:2 victories, the last to date was in Indian Wells a few weeks ago.

Maximilian Marterer tackles the noble task of annoying Philippe Chatrier Rafael Nadal at the same time. Marterer trained with the Spaniard a long time ago, the impressions will be even more present at the Franconia than at the big favourite from Spain.

Upset Alert of the day: John Isner (USA/9) vs. Juan Martin del Potro (ARG/5). Isner has so far benefited from small courts on which his opponents have not had enough time to make their returns. Del Potro is cruising through the tournament inconspicuously, but has only lost a set against Nicolas Mahut. DelPo could be one of those who could cause Rafael Nadal problems. If he beats Isner and then Cilic.

Here are the individual matches in Paris on Monday: