World News – UA – 10 things to know, day 8: Thiem aims for fifth straight quarter-final

The 2020 US Open champion tries to become the ninth man in the open era to reach five or more quarter-finals at Roland Garros

Trivia: Sebastian Korda is trying to become the first American to reach the quarterfinals here since 2003 Who did it then?

Welcome to week 2! Three Grand Slam champions – Rafael Nadal, Simona Halep and Dominic Thiem – are all on a crowded line-up on Chatrier today as the first places in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros are up for grabs

Nadal tries to reach record 14th Roland Garros quarter-final He would be the first man to reach 14 career quarter-finals here, but Novak Djokovic can tie him up on Monday if he beats Karen Khachanov

Nadal 24-1 against majors playoff The only qualifier to beat Nadal at a Major is Dustin Brown, who beat him in the second round at Wimbledon 2015 Today Nadal plays Korda, a qualifier

At 20, Korda is the youngest American to reach the fourth round here since 1991 That year 19-year-old Michael Chang reached the quarterfinals Korda’s father made the final the following year

Halep and Iga Swiatek met in the same round here a year ago – and they were off the field after 45 minutes The Romanian hit 17 winners with just five unforced errors to beat the Polish teenager, 6-1 , 6-0

Thiem tries to reach his fifth consecutive quarter-final at Roland Garros Only eight men from the Open Era have reached five or more in a row: the Big 3, Guillermo Vilas, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Alex Corretja and Raul Ramirez

Caroline Garcia has won her last three meetings with Elina Svitolina – and on one set and one breakdown She won in Beijing in 2017, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (6); at the 2017 WTA Finals, 6-7 (7), 6-3, 7-5; and at 2018 Stuttgart, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 These three games lasted a total of eight hours and 23 minutes (2:48 average)

Kiki Bertens and Martina Trevisan both saved match point to make it to this round The two women face off today, but they were both at one point of exiting earlier in the tournament – Bertens saved a match point against Sara Errani (second round) and Trevisan two against Maria Sakkari (third round)

At No 239, Hugo Gaston tries to become the lowest ranked man to reach the quarter-finals of Roland Garros since the start of the ATP ranking in 1973 At No 213, Korda could also achieve the feat if he wins (and Gaston loses) The lowest ranked man to do so at the moment is No 200 Henri Leconte in 1992

At 19, Jannik Sinner is the youngest man to reach week two of a Wimbledon major since 2011 Bernard Tomic, 18, reached the quarter-finals at the All-England Club that year, falling to to Djokovic

Anecdote from yesterday: the only two « three-names » to have beaten Djokovic by a major were Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Pablo Carreno Busta

Rafael Nadal, French Open, Tennis, Sebastian Korda, Petr Korda, Stefano Travaglia