Rafael Nadal could face top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the French Open quarterfinals, the toughest draw the nine-time champion has faced at Roland Garros. Nadal has fallen to No. 7 in the ATP rankings since coming back from injuries, dropping his seeding to sixth, the lowest it’s ever been at the clay-court major. That left him more vulnerable than usual in Friday’s draw, and bad luck put him in the same quarter as both Djokovic and 10th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov, and in the same half as Andy Murray. Nadal has faced tough draws before. In 2011, 2013 and again last year, he beat three top 10 players to lift the Musketeers Cup. His record on the red clay of Roland Garros is 66-1, with his only loss coming in the fourth round in 2009.
But this season, Nadal arrived in Paris with his reign looking shaky. He has lost five times on clay this season, his worst run-up. The task of drawing the names of the seeded men was given to defending women’s champion Maria Sharapova, who will begin her campaign against 49th-ranked Kaia Kanepi. With Djokovic, Nadal, the third-seeded Murray and 2013 runner-up David Ferrer all in the same half of the draw, the road for Roger Federer on the other side opened up.
Wawrinka, seeded eighth, is one of three top 10 players in Federer’s half of the draw. Fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori and fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych are the other two. They could meet in the quarterfinals, with a potential semifinal against Federer or Wawrinka to follow. In the women’s draw, 19-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams faces a potential third-round match against former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka.
NO INDIAN SINGlES PlAYER QUAlIFIES
There will be no Indian playing at this year’s French Open singles draw as all three contenders, including Yuki Bhambri, bowed out after second-round defeats in the Qualifiers here. Yuki suffered a 4-6, 3-6 defeat against Germany’s Tim Puetz while Ramkumar Ramanathan was routed 2-6, 0-6 by America’s Jared Donaldson. Russian Evgeny Donskoy had ousted Somdev Devvarman 6-2, 6-4 in his second round. The Indian challenge at the Grand Slam of the season will be led by Sania Mirza in women’s doubles.