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Spain’s Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Italy’s Stefano Travaglia during their men’s singles third round tennis match at the Philippe Chatrier court on Day 6 of The Roland Garros 2020 French Open tennis tournament in Paris on October 2, 2020.(Thomas SAMSON / AFP)

Victory for the 12-time champion could set up another Paris clash with Dominic Thiem who he has defeated in the last two finals.

However, third seed Thiem must first get past dangerous opponent Diego Schwartzman.

AFP Sport looks at the two quarter-finals:

Diego Schwartzman (ARG x12) v Dominic Thiem (AUT x3)

Head-to-head: Thiem leads 6-2

— Thiem arrived in Paris having captured his first Grand Slam title at the US Open and had made serene progress in the first three rounds until being given a huge scare in the last 16 by France’s world 239 Hugo Gaston who pushed him to five sets and three and a half hours of toil.

“Since I was a young kid, I always did pretty well in pressure situations,” said Thiem.

Ten of the 27-year-old Austrian’s 17 career titles have come on clay.

He has made at least the semi-finals in Paris for the last four years, losing to Nadal in the 2018 and 2019 finals.

Nadal also got the better of him in the 2017 semi-finals while he went down to Novak Djokovic, also in straight sets, in the last four in 2016.

Thiem has beaten Schwartzman in three of the pair’s four clay court meetings but the 5ft 7in (1.70m) Argentine defeated Nadal in the Rome quarter-finals on the eve of the French Open before losing to Djokovic in the final.

The 28-year-old fan of Boca Juniors and reggaeton music has three career titles, two on clay.

Schwartzman has yet to drop a set on his way to a second quarter-final in Paris and his fourth in all at the Slams.

Paths to quarter-finals:

Schwartzman

1st rd: bt Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB) 6-0, 6-1, 6-3

2nd rd: bt Lorenzo Giustino (ITA) 6-1, 7-5, 6-0

3rd rd: bt Norbert Gombos (SVK) 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-3

4th rd: bt Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) 6-1, 6-3, 6-4

Thiem

1st rd: bt Marin Cilic (CRO) 6-4, 6-3, 6-3

2nd rd: bt Jack Sock (USA) 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6)

3rd rd: bt Casper Ruud (NOR x28) 6-4, 6-3, 6-1

4th rd: bt Hugo Gaston (FRA) 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3

Jannik Sinner (ITA) v Rafael Nadal (ESP x2)

Head-to-head: First meeting

— Nadal has made the quarter-finals for the 14th time, dropping just 23 games in four rounds despite his pre-tournament prediction that he was facing his toughest ever Roland Garros due to the slow autumn conditions and the new, heavier balls.

His form is hard to gauge as his opponents have been ranked 83, 236, 74 and 213.

The 34-year-old Spaniard can equal Roger Federer’s record of 20 Grand Slam titles with victory next weekend.

However, standing in his way is Sinner, the Italian 19-year-old who has made a mockery of his world ranking of 75 to become the youngest men’s Grand Slam quarter-finalist since Novak Djokovic in Paris in 2006.

On his way, he has knocked out Belgian 11th seed David Goffin in the first round followed by a last-16 defeat of German sixth seed and US Open runner-up Alexander Zverev on the back of 39 winners.

Sinner, a champion skier in his youth before opting for tennis, is also the first player to reach the last eight on his Roland Garros debut since Nadal lifted the trophy in 2005.

“It’s not the easiest thing to play Nadal at Roland Garros. The record he has here, I think nobody can beat that. He is super confident,” said Sinner who now has two top 10 wins after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in Rome.

Paths to the quarter-finals:

Sinner

1st rd: bt David Goffin (BEL x11) 7-5, 6-0, 6-3

2nd rd: bt Benjamin Bonzi (FRA) 6-2, 6-4, 6-4

3rd rd: bt Frederico Coria (ARG) 6-3, 7-5, 7-5

4th rd: bt Alexander Zverev (GER x6) 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3

Nadal

1st rd: bt Egor Gerasimov (BLR) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2

2nd rd: bt Mackenzie McDonald (USA) 6-1, 6-0, 6-3

3rd rd: bt Stefano Travaglia (ITA) 6-1, 6-4, 6-0

4th rd: bt Sebastian Korda (USA) 6-1, 6-1, 6-2

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic returns the ball to Russia’s Karen Khachanov during their men’s singles fourth round tennis match on Day 9 of The Roland Garros 2020 French Open tennis tournament in Paris on October 5, 2020.(Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP)

Victory will give the top seed and the 2016 champion a last-four clash against either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Andrey Rublev who are in the quarter-finals in Paris for the first time.

Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) v Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP x17)

Head-to-head: Djokovic leads 3-1

— World number one Djokovic has moved effortlessly into a 14th quarter-final in Paris and 47th overall in the majors as he targets a second French Open and 18th Grand Slam.

He has dropped just 25 games through four rounds and now sits three wins away from becoming the first man in half a century — and only the third in history — to win all four Slams twice.

The 33-year-old’s only heart-stopping moment came in his last 16 win over Karen Khachanov when a ball ricocheted off the frame of his racquet and accidentally smashed into the face of a line judge.

“My gosh, it was a very awkward deja vu,” said the Serb who last month was disqualified from the US Open for an angry swipe of a ball which hit a female line judge squarely in the throat.

That was Djokovic’s only ‘defeat’ against 35 wins this year.

Carreno Busta, the world number 18, has lost both his meetings to Djokovic on clay, in Monte Carlo in 2014 and 2017.

The 29-year-old made the quarter-finals at the US Open and was also in the last eight in Paris in 2017.

However, that experience ended in heartbreak with an abdominal injury forcing him to quit against Rafael Nadal after just 52 minutes.

Carreno Busta, who needed treatment on a stomach problem in last 16 win over Daniel Altmaier on Monday, says that Djokovic’s legacy should not be permanently scarred by the incident in New York.

“I think Novak is a great player, a great person. Sometimes we cannot control our emotions. A mistake,” said the Spaniard.

Path to the quarter-finals (x indicates seeded player):

Djokovic

1st rd: bt Mikael Ymer (SWE) 6-0, 6-2, 6-3

2nd rd: bt Ricardas Berankis (LTU) 6-1, 6-2, 6-2

3rd rd: bt Daniel Galan (COL) 6-0, 6-3, 6-2

4th rd: bt Karen Khachanov (RUS x15) 6-4, 6-3, 6-3

Carreno Busta

1st rd: bt John Millman (AUS) 6-3, 6-2, 7-5

2nd rd: bt Guido Pella (ARG) 6-3, 6-2, 6-1

3rd rd: bt Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP x10) 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4

4th rd: bt Daniel Altmaier (GER) 6-2, 7-5, 6-2

Andrey Rublev (RUS x13) v Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE x5)

Head-to-head: Rublev leads 2-1

— Less than two weeks after Rublev defeated Tsitsipas in the Hamburg claycourt final, the pair meet again in their debut appearances in the last eight in Paris.

Rublev, the 22-year-old with a mop of unruly red hair, has been a picture of flashy shot-making and defiance in Paris as he reached a third career Slam quarter-final to follow similar runs in New York in 2017 and last month.

In four matches at the tournament, his opponents have served for sets on eight occasions but Rublev has been equal to the task every time.

The Russian has five career titles, three of which have come in this truncated season. Only Djokovic with four can boast a better record.

World number six Tsitsipas, also 22, is equally flamboyant.

He is the first Greek to get this far in Paris and will be playing in the quarter-finals of a major for just the second time following his breakout run at the 2019 Australian Open where he made the semi-finals, defeating Roger Federer on the way.

“Andrey is a tough cookie,” said Tsitsipas.

Path to the quarter-finals (x indicates seeded player):

Rublev

1st rd: bt Sam Querrey (USA) 6-7 (5/7), 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 6-4, 6-3

2nd rd: bt Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP) 7-5, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1

3rd rd: bt Kevin Anderson (RSA) 6-3, 6-2, 6-3

4th rd: bt Marton Fucsovics (HUN) 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3)

Tsitsipas

1st rd: bt Jaume Munar (ESP) 4-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4

2nd rd: bt Pablo Cuevas (URU) 6-1, 6-4, 6-2

3rd rd: bt Aljaz Bedene (SLO) 6-1, 6-2, 3-1 – retired

4th rd: bt Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x18) 6-3, 7-6 (11/9), 6-2