2018 ROLAND GARROS
DAY 11 MEN’S NOTES
Wednesday 6 June
Quarterfinals Top Half
Featured matches
No. 1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) v No. 11 Diego Schwartzman (ARG)
No. 3 Marin Cilic (CRO) v No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro (ARG)
A look at the quarterfinalists…
| Player | Country | Age | Ranking | Best Roland Garros performance | Best Grand Slam performance |
| No. 1 Rafael Nadal | ESP | 32 | 1 | W 2005-08, 2010-14, 2017 | 16 titles |
| No. 2 Alexander Zverev | GER | 21 | 3 | QF 2018 | QF 2018 Roland Garros |
| No. 3 Marin Cilic | CRO | 29 | 4 | QF 2017-18 | W 2014 US Open |
| No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro | ARG | 29 | 6 | SF 2009 | W 2009 US Open |
| No. 7 Dominic Thiem | AUT | 24 | 8 | SF 2016-18 | SF 2016-18 Roland Garros |
| No. 11 Diego Schwartzman | ARG | 25 | 12 | QF 2018 | QF 2017 US Open, 2018 Roland Garros |
| No. 20 Novak Djokovic | SRB | 31 | 22 | W 2016 | 12 titles |
| Marco Cecchinato | ITA | 25 | 72 | SF 2018 | SF 2018 Roland Garros |
On court today…
- A 5th meeting between a Spanish player and an Argentinian player in the men’s singles this year takes place on Court Philippe Chatrier today, as 10-time champion Rafael Nadal faces Diego Schwartzman. Spain leads 3-1 in the nations’ mini rivalry, with Nadal hoping to make it 4 for his country by overcoming the challenge of No. 11 seed Schwartzman. If he can advance today, he will become just the 3rd man in the Open Era to reach 11 semifinals at a single Grand Slam event after Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer. In contrast, Schwartzman is bidding to reach his maiden Grand Slam semifinal here and become the 10th Argentinian man in history to reach the last 4 at a major – and, after coming from 0-2 down to defeat No. 6 seed Kevin Anderson for the first time in his career in the round of 16, will be hopeful of another upset today.
- The 2nd match on Court Suzanne Lenglen is a battle between 2 former Grand Slam champions, as No. 3 seed and 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic takes on No. 5 seed and 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro. The Argentine has the advantage when it comes to recent match-ups between the pair – Cilic is without a victory against Del Potro since 2011, and has never defeated him on clay. Del Potro also leads the way with appearances in the semifinals here, having made the last 4 here once before in 2009 – but Cilic has reached the final at 2 of the last 3 Grand Slams and will be confident of completing the set of Grand Slam semifinal appearances by reaching a first semifinal here.
1 RAFAEL NADAL (ESP) v NO.11 DIEGO SCHWARTZMAN (ARG)
Head-to-head: Nadal leads 5-0
2013 Acapulco Clay (O) R32 Nadal 62 62
2015 US Open Hard (O) R64 Nadal 76(5) 63 75
2017 Monte Carlo-1000 Clay (O) QF Nadal 64 64
2018 Australian Open Hard (O) R16 Nadal 63 67(4) 63 63
2018 Madrid-1000 Clay (O) R16 Nadal 63 64
A 6th meeting for the pair and their 3rd this year and at a Grand Slam, with Schwartzman yet to take a set off Nadal on clay.
This is the 5th meeting between an Argentinian player and a Spanish player in the men’s singles at this year’s Roland Garros. The Spanish player has won on 3 occasions – Fernando Verdasco defeated Guido Andreozzi, Pablo Carreno Busta defeated Federico Delbonis and Rafael Nadal defeated Guido Pella in the 2nd round, while Juan Martin del Potro is the only Argentinian to defeat a Spanish player here this year, overcoming Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the 3rd round.
In total, this is the 103rd match-up between an Argentinian player and a Spanish player in the men’s singles here in the Open Era, with Spanish players leading Argentinian players 59-43.
Nadal and Schwartzman are both in the Top 5 on the list for most Tour-level match-wins on clay in 2018. Nadal is in 2nd place, while Schwartzman is in joint-4th place.
2018 Tour-level match-wins on clay
| Dominic Thiem | 25-5 |
| Rafael Nadal | 23-1 |
| Alexander Zverev | 21-4 |
| Fabio Fognini
Diego Schwartzman |
17-8
17-6 |
Possible semifinal head-to-heads
| Cilic | Del Potro | |
| Nadal | 5-2 | 9-5 |
| Schwartzman | 1-1 | 0-1 |
NADAL v SCHWARTZMAN
32 Age 25
1 ATP Ranking 12
78 Titles 2
234-34 Career Grand Slam Record 17-15
83-2 Roland Garros Record 8-4
900-187 Career Record 92-88
412-36 Career Record – Clay 52-46
27-2 2018 Record 22-12
23-1 2018 Record – Clay 17-6
19-11 Career Five-Set Record 3-3
3 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 1
220-140 Career Tiebreak Record 22-34
5-1 2018 Tiebreak Record 3-5
Road to the Quarterfinals
| NADAL | Time | Time | SCHWARTZMAN | |
| d. (LL) Simone Bolelli 64 63 76(9)
d. Guido Pella 62 61 61 |
2:57
2:03 |
1st round
2nd round |
1:27
1:27 |
d. (WC) Calvin Hemery 61 63 61
d. (Q) Adam Pavlasek 61 63 61 |
| d. No. 27 Richard Gasquet 63 62 62 | 1:58 | 3rd round | 2:31 | d. Borna Coric 75 63 63 |
| d. Maximilian Marterer 63 62 76(4) | 2:30 | Round of 16 | 3:52 | d. No. 6 Kevin Anderson 16 26 75 76(0) 62 |
| total time on court | 9:28 | (IDS time) | 9:17 | total time on court |
- 10-time champion NADAL is bidding to reach his 27th Grand Slam semifinal and claim sole ownership of 5th place on the list for most Grand Slam semifinal appearances in the Open Era, ahead of Andre Agassi.
Most Grand Slam semifinal appearances (Open Era)
| Player | No. of appearances |
| Roger Federer | 43 |
| Jimmy Connors
Novak Djokovic |
31
31 |
| Ivan Lendl | 28 |
| Rafael Nadal | 27?? |
| Andre Agassi | 26 |
- Nadal is bidding to reach his 11th Roland Garros semifinal and extend his record for most semifinal appearances at Roland Garros in the Open Era.
Most Roland Garros semifinal appearances (Open Era)
| Player | No. of appearances |
| Rafael Nadal | 11?? |
| Novak Djokovic | 8 |
| Roger Federer | 7 |
| Bjorn Borg
Mats Wilander |
6
6 |
| Andre Agassi
Ivan Lendl Andy Murray |
5
5 5 |
- Nadal is bidding to become just the 3rd man in the Open Era to reach 11 semifinals at a single Grand Slam event. Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors have both achieved the feat at 2 of the majors.
Players to reach 11 semifinals at a single Grand Slam event (Open Era)
| Roger Federer | 14 Australian Open semifinals
13 Wimbledon semifinals |
| Jimmy Connors | 14 US Open semifinals
11 Wimbledon semifinals |
| Rafael Nadal?? | 11 Roland Garros semifinals?? |
- Nadal is bidding to record his 235th Grand Slam match-win today. By recording his 234th Grand Slam match-win in the round of 16, he claimed sole ownership of 3rd place on the list for most Grand Slam match-wins ahead of Connors. Only Federer (332 Grand Slam match-wins) and Novak Djokovic (244) have won more matches at the majors.
- Nadal is bidding to extend his current streak of 37 consecutive completed sets won at Roland Garros. He surpassed his previous longest streak of 32 consecutive completed sets won here in 2007-09 in his 3rd round victory against Richard Gasquet. Only Bjorn Borg, who won 41 consecutive sets here in 1979-81, has recorded a longer streak of consecutive sets won at Roland Garros.
- Roland Garros is Nadal’s most successful Grand Slam in terms of match-wins, titles won and semifinals reached.
| Grand Slam | Titles won | Win-loss record | Semifinals reached |
| Australian Open | 1 | 55-12 | 5 |
| Roland Garros | 10 | 83-2 | 11?? |
| Wimbledon | 2 | 43-10 | 5 |
| US Open | 3 | 53-10 | 6 |
- Nadal is bidding to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record for most singles titles at the same Grand Slam event. Court won 11 Australian women’s singles titles between 1960 and 1973. (see Preview page 1)
- Nadal is bidding to further extend his record for the most men’s singles Grand Slam titles at any one event. He won the title here in 2005-08 and 2010-14, making him the only man in history to have won 5 titles in a row at Roland Garros, before winning his 10th title here last year, defeating Stan Wawrinka in the final. He did not drop a set during the tournament – the 3rd time he had won the title here without dropping a set.
- By defeating Maximilian Marterer in the round of 16, Nadal became the 5th man in the Open Era to record 900 Tour-level match-wins. Only Connors (1,156 Tour-level match-wins), Federer (1,149), Ivan Lendl (1,069) and Guillermo Vilas (940) have won more Tour-level matches.
- By reaching his 12th Roland Garros quarterfinal, Nadal equalled the record for most appearances in the last 8 here in the Open Era. Djokovic also reached his 12th quarterfinal here this year.
- By reaching his 34th Grand Slam quarterfinal, Nadal moved into joint-5th place on the list for the most Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances in the Open Era, alongside Lendl. Only Federer (52 major quarterfinals), Connors (41), Djokovic (40), and Agassi (36) have reached the last 8 at a Grand Slam more often than Nadal.
- By winning his opening 4 matches here, Nadal improved to a 108-2 win-loss record in best-of-five-set matches on clay. His only defeats came at Roland Garros – in the round of 16 in 2009 (l. Robin Soderling) and the quarterfinals in 2015 (l. Djokovic).
- Nadal is the leading performer in Roland Garros history. He has an 83-2 win-loss record at Roland Garros, ahead of Federer (65-16), Djokovic (63-12) and Vilas (58-17). This is Nadal’s 14th successive Roland Garros and his 52nd appearance at a major.
- Nadal is one of only 3 players to have won multiple clay court titles this year along with Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev. He won his 11th titles at both Monte Carlo-1000 (d. Kei Nishikori) and Barcelona (d. Stefanos Tsitsipas). He also won the title at Rome-1000 (d. Alexander Zverev), but lost to Thiem in the quarterfinals at Madrid-1000.
- Nadal has a 23-1 win-loss record on clay so far this year. Only Thiem (25-5) has won more Tour-level clay court matches in 2018. Nadal’s defeat to Thiem at Madrid-1000 ended his 21-match winning streak on clay, during which he set the Open Era record for most consecutive sets won on a single surface with 50, surpassing John McEnroe’s 49 consecutive sets on carpet in 1984.
- Nadal is bidding to win his 57th career clay court title at Roland Garros. By winning his 50th clay court title at 2017 Monte Carlo-1000, he set an Open Era record for the most career clay court titles ahead of Vilas (49).
- Also in 2018, Nadal reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, where he retired in the 5th set of his match with Marin Cilic due to a right leg injury. He withdrew from Acapulco, Indian Wells-1000 and Miami-1000 as a result of the injury.
- Nadal is seeded No. 1 at Roland Garros for the 4th time in his career. He was also seeded No. 1 here in 2009, 2011 and 2014. It is the 3rd consecutive Grand Slam where he has been seeded No. 1 and the 12th time overall that he has been the No. 1 seed at a major.
- Nadal returned to world No. 1 for the first time since July 2014 in August last year. Since then, he has remained at No. 1 for all but 5 weeks, when he was overtaken by Federer. He dropped to No. 2 after losing in the quarterfinals at Madrid-1000, but regained the No. 1 ranking after winning the title at Rome-1000. He must successfully defend his title here to remain at No. 1 when the new rankings are published on Monday 11 June.
- Nadal has played Davis Cup for Spain since 2004. He won both his rubbers as Spain defeated Germany 3-2 in the World Group quarterfinals in Valencia in April and has a 29-5 overall win-loss record in the competition. Spain will play France in the semifinals in Lille on 14-16 September.
- Nadal is coached by Carlos Moya, who won the title here in 1998, and Toni Nadal.
- SCHWARTZMAN is bidding to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam for the first time.
- Schwartzman is bidding to become the 10th Argentinian man in history to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam. (see table overleaf)
Argentinian men in Grand Slam semifinals (all-time)
| Player | Grand Slam semifinals reached |
| Enrique Morea | 1953-54 Roland Garros |
| Guillermo Vilas | 1975, 1977-78, 1982 Roland Garros; 1975-77, 1982 US Open; 1977 (Jan), 1978-80 Australian Open |
| Jose Luis Clerc | 1981-82 Roland Garros |
| Franco Squillari | 2000 Roland Garros |
| David Nalbandian | 2002 Wimbledon; 2003 US Open;
2004, 2006 Roland Garros; 2006 Australian Open |
| Guillermo Coria | 2003-04 Roland Garros |
| Gaston Gaudio | 2004 Roland Garros |
| Mariano Puerta | 2005 Roland Garros |
| Juan Martin del Potro | 2009, 2018?? Roland Garros; 2009 US Open;
2013 Wimbledon; 2017 US Open |
| Diego Schwartzman?? | 2018 Roland Garros?? |
- Should Schwartzman and Juan Martin del Potro, who is also through to the quarterfinals this year, both reach the semifinals, it will be the 3rd time that Argentina has had multiple representatives in the semifinals of the men’s singles at a Grand Slam – after Jose Luis Clerc and Guillermo Vilas reached the last 4 here in 1982, and Guillermo Coria and Gaston Gaudio reached the last 4 here in 2004.
- By both reaching the quarterfinals here, Del Potro and Schwartzman ensured that Argentina has multiple representatives in the last 8 of the men’s singles here for the first time since 2005, when Guillermo Canas and Mariano Puerta reached this stage.
- By reaching his 2nd Grand Slam quarterfinal here, Schwartzman became the 8th Argentinian man in the Open Era to reach multiple Grand Slam quarterfinals. Guillermo Vilas (19 major quarterfinal appearances), Juan Martin del Potro (10), David Nalbandian (10), Coria (4), Guillermo Canas (3), Juan Ignacio Chela (3) and Jose Luis Clerc (2) are the only other Argentinian men to reach the last 8 at the majors on multiple occasions.
- By reaching the quarterfinals here, Schwartzman has equalled his best Grand Slam performance. He also reached the quarterfinals at the 2017 US Open, where he defeated No. 5 seed Marin Cilic and No. 16 seed Lucas Pouille before falling to No. 12 seed Pablo Carreno Busta in the last 8.
- Schwartzman came back from 0-2 down for the first time in his career to defeat No. 6 seed Kevin Anderson in 5 sets in the round of 16 here, and improved his win-loss record in 5-set matches to 3-3. It was also his first victory against a Top 10 player on clay.
- Last year here Schwartzman reached the 3rd round, recording back-to-back match wins at a Grand Slam for the first time by defeating Andrey Rublev and Stefano Napolitano, before falling to Novak Djokovic in 5 sets. This is his 5th Roland Garros appearance and his 16th Grand Slam overall.
- Schwartzman warmed up for Roland Garros by reaching the 3rd round at Madrid-1000 (l. today’s opponent) and the 2nd round at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Richard Gasquet) and Rome-1000 (l. Benoit Paire). He lost his opening matches at both Barcelona (l. Stefanos Tsitsipas) and Munich (l. Maximilian Marterer).
- Schwartzman’s best result in 2018 is winning the title on clay at Rio De Janeiro (d. Fernando Verdasco). He also reached the quarterfinals on clay at Buenos Aires (l. Aljaz Bedene), the round of 16 at the Australian Open (l. today’s opponent) and the 3rd round at Miami-1000 (l. Milos Raonic).
- Schwartzman is bidding to record 5 consecutive Tour-level match-wins on clay for the 3rd time. The only occasions where he has achieved the feat is in recording 6 straight Tour-level match-wins on clay in winning the title at 2016 Istanbul through to reaching the 2nd round at 2016 Nice, and in recording 8 straight match-wins on the surface in winning the title at Rio De Janeiro this year, winning 2 Davis Cup rubbers and reaching the 2nd round at Monte Carlo-1000.
- Schwartzman is bidding to record his first victory against a world No. 1 at the 4th attempt. He has lost both his meetings with a world No. 1 this year – to today’s opponent at both the Australian Open and Madrid-1000. His career-best victories came against No. 7 Dominic Thiem at 2017 Montreal-1000, No. 7 Cilic at the 2017 US Open and No. 7 Anderson in the round of 16 here this year.
- Clay is Schwartzman’s best surface. 52 of his 92 Tour-level match-wins have come on clay, compared to 40 Tour-level match-wins on hard courts and none on grass.
- Schwartzman has won 2 Tour-level titles – both of which have come on clay. As well as winning the title at Rio De Janeiro this year, he also won the title at 2016 Istanbul. He recovered from a set and 2-5 down against Grigor Dimitrov and was awarded the match while leading 5-0 in the 3rd set when Dimitrov was given a game penalty for smashing his rackets for the 3rd time in the match.
- Schwartzman reached a career-high ranking of No. 12 after reaching the 2nd round at Rome-1000 this year, and plays here at the same ranking.
- Schwartzman entered the men’s doubles here with Guido Pella. The pair defeated wild cards Antoine Hoang/Ugo Humbert 63 63 in the 1st round but fell to No. 5 seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah 64 76(4) in the 2nd round.
- Schwartzman is coached by former world No. 15 Juan Ignacio Chela, who reached the quarterfinals here in 2004 and 2011. His physical trainer is Nicolas Sec.
3 MARIN CILIC (CRO) v NO. 5 JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO (ARG)
Head-to-head: Del Potro leads 10-2
2009 Australian Open Hard (O) R16 Del Potro 57 64 64 62
2009 US Open Hard (O) QF Del Potro 46 63 62 61
2010 Australian Open Hard (O) R16 Cilic 57 64 75 57 63
2011 Madrid-1000 Clay (O) R32 Del Potro 63 60
2011 Montreal-1000 Hard (O) R32 Cilic 63 64
2012 Miami Hard (O) R32 Del Potro 63 76(3)
2012 Davis Cup (WG-QF) Clay (O) R4 Del Potro 61 62 61
2012 Madrid-1000 Clay (O) R16 Del Potro 62 64
2012 Roland Garros Clay (O) R32 Del Potro 63 76(7) 61
2013 Paris-1000 Hard (I) R32 Del Potro 64 76(3)
2016 Davis Cup (WG-FR) Hard (I) R4 Del Potro 67(4) 26 75 64 63
2017 Basel Hard (I) SF Del Potro 64 64
A 13th meeting for the pair, their 5th at a Grand Slam, 5th on clay, and 2nd at Roland Garros. Del Potro leads their head-to-head in Grand Slam meetings 3-1 and their head-to-head in clay court meetings 4-0 – including a straight sets victory in the 3rd round here in 2012.
The pair have contested 2 five-set matches – in the round of 16 at the 2010 Australian Open, where Cilic triumphed, and in the 2016 Davis Cup Final, where Del Potro recovered from 0-2 down to win and level the Final at 2-2.
Cilic and Del Potro are 2 of the 4 Grand Slam champions to reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros from the 5 that started the men’s main draw this year. Both have won one Grand Slam title – Del Potro defeated Roger Federer to win the 2009 US Open and Cilic defeated Kei Nishikori to win the 2014 US Open. If either of the pair win the title here, they will enter the Open Era list for most attempts before winning a 2nd major crown.
Most attempts before winning a 2nd Grand Slam title (Open Era)
| Player | 1st Grand Slam title | 2nd Grand Slam title | Attempts before winning 2nd Grand Slam title |
| Juan Martin del Potro?? | 2009 US Open | 2018 Roland Garros?? | 20?? |
| Marat Safin | 2000 US Open | 2005 Australian Open | 14 |
| Marin Cilic?? | 2014 US Open | 2018 Roland Garros?? | 13?? |
| Novak Djokovic | 2008 Australian Open | 2011 Australian Open | 12 |
| Gustavo Kuerten | 1997 Roland Garros | 2000 Roland Garros | 12 |
| Pete Sampras | 1990 US Open | 1993 Wimbledon | 9 |
Possible semifinal head-to-heads
| Nadal | Schwartzman | |
| Cilic | 2-5 | 1-1 |
| Del Potro | 5-9 | 1-0 |
CILIC v DEL POTRO
29 Age 29
4 ATP Ranking 6
17 Titles 22
106-39 Career Grand Slam Record 83-32
24-11 Roland Garros Record 18-7
457-240 Career Record 411-162
114-68 Career Record – Clay 78-31
22-8 2018 Record 27-6
11-4 2018 Record – Clay 6-2
28-13 Career Five-Set Record 7-9
5 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 2
172-149 Career Tiebreak Record 145-103
12-8 2018 Tiebreak Record 8-5
Road to the Quarterfinals
| CILIC | Time | Time | DEL POTRO | |
| d. James Duckworth 63 75 76(4)
d. (Q) Hubert Hurkacz 62 62 67(3) 75 |
2:13
2:49 |
1st round
2nd round |
2:07
1:55 |
d. (WC) Nicolas Mahut 16 61 62 64
d. Julien Benneteau 64 63 62 |
| d. Steve Johnson 63 62 64 | 1:34 | 3rd round | 2:18 | d. No. 31 Albert Ramos-Vinolas 75 64 61 |
| d. No. 18 Fabio Fognini 64 61 36 67(4) 63 | 3:37 | Round of 16 | 1:59 | d. No. 9 John Isner 64 64 64 |
| total time on court | 10:13 | (IDS time) | 8:19 | total time on court |
- CILIC is bidding to become the first Croatian man to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros since Ivan Ljubicic reached the last 4 here in 2006.
- Cilic is bidding to become the 4th Croatian man to reach the semifinals here in the Open Era. Zeljko Franulovic (1970-71), Niki Pilic (1973) and Ljubicic (2006) are the only Croatian men to have reached the last 4 here. (NB Franulovic and Pilic are both Croatian-born but represented Yugoslavia throughout their careers)
- Cilic is bidding to reach his 6th Grand Slam semifinal and close the gap on Goran Ivanisevic at the top of the list for most Grand Slam semifinal appearances by a Croatian man. Ivanisevic reached 7 Grand Slam semifinals.
- If Cilic reaches the semifinals here on his 12th Roland Garros appearance he will go top of the list for most attempts before reaching the semifinals here.
Attempts to reach Roland Garros semifinals (Open Era)
| Player | Attempts before reaching Roland Garros semifinals |
| Marin Cilic?? | 12?? |
| Andres Gomez
Stan Wawrinka |
11
11 |
| David Ferrer
Cedric Pioline |
10
10 |
- Cilic is bidding to become the 24th man in the Open Era to reach the semifinals at all 4 Grand Slams. He has reached the last 4 at a major on 5 occasions – twice at both the Australian Open (2010, 2018) and the US Open (2014-15) and once at Wimbledon (2017).
- Cilic is bidding to record his 25th Roland Garros match-win and equal Franulovic in 2nd place on the list for most Roland Garros match-wins by a Croatian man.
Most matches won by a Croatian man at Roland Garros
| Rank | Player | Roland Garros win-loss |
| 1. | Niki Pilic* | 27-12 |
| 2. | Zeljko Franulovic* | 25-17 |
| 3. | Marin Cilic | 24-11 |
| 4. | Goran Ivanisevic | 21-12 |
| 5. | Ivan Ljubicic | 18-12 |
* Franulovic and Pilic are both Croatian-born but represented Yugoslavia throughout their careers
- By reaching the quarterfinals here for the 2nd time, Cilic became the 3rd Croatian man to reach multiple Roland Garros quarterfinals after Franulovic (1969-71) and Ivanisevic (1990, 1992, 1994).
- By reaching his 12th Grand Slam quarterfinal, Cilic closed the gap on Ivanisevic (14 Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances) at the top of the list for most appearances in the last 8 at the majors by a Croatian man.
- By reaching the quarterfinals here for the 2nd time, Cilic became the 24th man in the Open Era to reach the quarterfinals at all Grand Slams on multiple occasions. He has also reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open twice and the last 8 at both Wimbledon and the US Open on 4 occasions.
- By reaching the quarterfinals here, Cilic has equalled his best Roland Garros result. He also reached the last 8 here last year on his 11th Roland Garros appearance, putting him 3rd on the list for most attempts to reach the last 8 here in the Open Era. He was also the first Croatian man to reach the quarterfinals here since Mario Ancic and Ljubicic in 2006. He fell to Stan Wawrinka in straight sets.
- Cilic is one of 4 Grand Slam champions through to the quarterfinals from the 5 to start in the men’s main draw here. He won his first major title at the 2014 US Open, defeating Kei Nishikori in the final. He was the first Croatian to win a Grand Slam title since Ivanisevic at 2001 Wimbledon. This is his 42nd Grand Slam appearance.
- Cilic is bidding to become the 11th man in the Open Era to reach the final at all 4 Grand Slams. As well as winning the title at the 2014 US Open, he has also reached the final at 2017 Wimbledon and the 2018 Australian Open, falling to Roger Federer on both occasions.
- Cilic warmed up for Roland Garros by reaching the semifinals at Rome-1000 (l. Alexander Zverev) and the quarterfinals at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Nishikori). He lost his opening match on his title defence in Istanbul (l. Malek Jaziri) and withdrew from Madrid-1000 due to a knee injury.
- Also in 2018, Cilic reached his 3rd Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, the semifinals at Pune (l. Gilles Simon) the round of 16 at Miami-1000 (l. John Isner) and the 3rd round at Indian Wells-1000 (l. Philipp Kohlschreiber).
- Cilic is bidding to defeat a Top 10 player at Roland Garros for the first time. He has lost all 7 of his previous meetings with Top 10 opposition here. The highest-ranked player he has defeated at Roland Garros is No. 18 Fabio Fognini in the round of 16 this year. He has a 9-21 win-loss record against Top 10 players at the majors overall.
- Cilic has won just one of his last 9 meetings with Top 10 opposition. His only victory against a Top 10 opponent in that time came when No. 1 Rafael Nadal retired with a right leg injury in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open this year. His last victory against a Top 10 opponent in a completed match came against 10 David Goffin in the 3rd round at 2017 Rome-1000. He has a 4-16 win-loss record against Top 10 players on clay and a 30-72 win-loss record against Top 10 opposition overall.
- By defeating Fognini in 5 sets in the round of 16, Cilic improved his win-loss record in 5-set matches to 28-13. He has won both 5-set matches he has contested at Roland Garros, having also defeated Leonardo Mayer in 5 sets in the 3rd round in 2010.
- Cilic has won 17 career titles including 2 on clay – at 2012 Umag (d. Marcel Granollers) and 2017 Istanbul (d. Milos Raonic).
- Cilic reached a career-high ranking of No. 3 after reaching the final at the Australian Open this year. He plays here one place lower at No. 4.
- Cilic is the only junior Roland Garros champion through to the quarterfinals here from the 5 who started the men’s draw. He won the boys’ singles at 2005 Roland Garros (d. Antal van der Duim) and finished the year at No. 2 in the ITF Junior rankings behind Donald Young, having reached the quarterfinals at the other 3 Grand Slams.
- Cilic has played Davis Cup for Croatia since 2006. He defeated Dmitry Popko and Mikhail Kukushkin in Croatia’s 3-1 victory against Kazakhstan in the World Group quarterfinals this year. Croatia host USA in the semifinals in Split on 14-16 September.
- Cilic is coached by Ivan Cinkus.
- DEL POTRO is bidding to reach his 2nd semifinal here and become the 5th Argentinian man in history to reach multiple semifinals at Roland Garros.
Argentinian men in Roland Garros semifinals (all-time)
| Player | No. of appearances |
| Guilllermo Vilas | 4 (1975, 1977-78, 1982) |
| Jose Luis Clerc
Guillermo Coria Juan Martin del Potro?? Enrique Morea David Nalbandian |
2 (1981-82)
2 (2003-04) 2?? (2009, 2018??) 2 (1953-54) 2 (2004, 2006) |
| Gaston Gaudio
Mariano Puerta Franco Squillari |
1 (2004)
1 (2005) 1 (2000) |
- Del Potro is bidding to reach his 5th Grand Slam and equal David Nalbandian in 2nd place on the list for most Grand Slam semifinal appearances by an Argentinian man. (see table overleaf)
Most Grand Slam semifinal appearances by an Argentinian men (all-time)
| Player | No. of appearances |
| Guilllermo Vilas | 12 |
| Juan Martin del Potro??
David Nalbandian |
5??
5 |
| Jose Luis Clerc
Guillermo Coria Enrique Morea |
2
2 2 |
- Del Potro is bidding to reach his 2nd Roland Garros semifinal and equal his best performance at Roland Garros. He reached the last 4 here in 2009, where he lost to eventual champion Roger Federer in 5 sets. It was his first semifinal finish at a Grand Slam.
- Should Del Potro and Diego Schwartzman, who is also through to the quarterfinals this year, both reach the semifinals, it will be the 3rd time that Argentina has had multiple representatives in the semifinals at a Grand Slam – after Jose Luis Clerc and Guillermo Vilas reached the last 4 here in 1982, and Guillermo Coria and Gaston Gaudio reached the last 4 here in 2004.
- Del Potro is looking to record his 19th Roland Garros match-win and equal Martin Jaite in 4th place on the list for most Roland Garros match-wins by an Argentinian man.
Most matches won by an Argentinian man at Roland Garros (all-time)
| Rank | Player | Roland Garros win-loss |
| 1. | Guillermo Vilas | 58-17 |
| 2. | Gaston Gaudio | 21-9 |
| 3. | David Nalbandian | 20-8 |
| 4. | Martin Jaite | 19-9 |
| 5. | Juan Martin del Potro | 18-7 |
| 6. | Jose Luis Clerc
Guillermo Coria |
17-9
17-7 |
- Del Potro is bidding to record his 84th Grand Slam match-win and close the gap on Nalbandian in 2nd place on the list for most Grand Slam match-wins by an Argentinian man.
Most Grand Slam matches won by an Argentinian man (all-time)
| Rank | Player | Grand Slam win-loss |
| 1. | Guillermo Vilas | 139-45 |
| 2. | David Nalbandian | 86-36 |
| 3. | Juan Martin del Potro | 83-32 |
| 4. | Juan Ignacio Chela | 46-42 |
| 5. | Guillermo Canas | 41-31 |
- By both reaching the quarterfinals here, Del Potro and Schwartzman ensured that Argentina has multiple representatives in the last 8 here for the first time since 2005, when Guillermo Canas and Mariano Puerta reached this stage.
- Last year here, on his first Roland Garros appearance since 2012, Del Potro reached the 3rd round, falling to No. 1 seed Andy Murray in straight sets.
- Del Potro’s best Grand Slam performance is winning the 2009 US Open (d. Federer). He has reached at least the quarterfinals at all 4 Grand Slams.
- Del Potro is competing at his 5th consecutive Grand Slam event – his longest streak of Grand Slam appearances since he appeared at 9 straight majors in 2011-13. This is his 8th Roland Garros and his 34th major overall.
- Del Potro warmed up for Roland Garros by reaching the 3rd round at both Madrid-1000 (l. Dusan Lajovic) and Rome-1000, where he retired in the 2nd set against David Goffin due to a leg injury.
- Del Potro’s best result in 2018 is winning the title at Indian Wells-1000 where, as No. 6 seed, he defeated Federer to win his first Masters-1000 title. He also won the title at Acapuldo (d. Kevin Anderson), reached the final at Auckland (l. Roberto Bautista Agut) and the semifinals at Miami-1000, where his defeat to John Isner ended a 15-match winning streak. He reached the 3rd round at the Australian Open (l. Tomas Berdych).
- Del Potro is bidding to record his 28th Tour-level match-win today. He is in joint-3rd place on the list for most Tour-level match-wins in 2018 with Rafael Nadal, who is also looking to record his 28th match-win of 2018 today. Only Alexander Zverev (34) and Dominic Thiem (34) have won more matches this year.
- Del Potro is bidding to record 5 straight match-wins on clay for the first time since he recorded a 10-match clay court winning streak in 2012 – winning 2 matches in Argentina’s Davis Cup victory over Croatia, winning the title at Estoril and reaching the semifinals at Madrid-1000.
- Del Potro is bidding to defeat a Top 5 player at Roland Garros for the first time. He has lost all 5 of his previous meetings with Top 5 opposition here. The highest-ranked player he has defeated at Roland Garros is No. 7 Berdych in the round of 16 in 2012. He has a 5-16 win-loss record against Top 5 opposition at the Grand Slams overall.
- Del Potro is bidding to end a 7-match losing streak against Top 5 opposition on clay. He has not defeated a Top 5 player on clay since defeating No. 5 Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals at 2011 Estoril. He has a 2-11 win-loss record against Top 5 opposition on clay and a 29-55 win-loss record against Top 5 opposition overall – but has won both of his matches against Top 5 opponents this year.
- Del Potro has won 22 career singles titles, including 4 on clay. He won the titles at 2008 Stuttgart (d. Richard Gasquet), 2008 Kitzbuhel (d. Jurgen Melzer) and twice at Estoril, in 2011 (d. Fernando Verdasco) and 2012 (d. Gasquet). His other 18 titles have come on hard courts.
- Del Potro underwent left wrist surgery in March 2014 and made his comeback in January 2015. He contested 2 events in 2015 before having further surgery on his left wrist. He made his return from a 3rd wrist surgery at 2016 Delray Beach.
- Del Potro returned to the Top 10 for the first time since August 2014 after reaching the final at Auckland this year. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 4 in January 2010, and plays here 2 places lower at No. 6.
- Del Potro helped Argentina to its first Davis Cup title in November 2016, when the team defeated Croatia 3-2 in the Final in Zagreb. Del Potro won both of his singles rubbers, including coming from 0-2 down for the first time in his career against today’s opponent in the 4th rubber to win in 5 sets. He has a 16-6 win-loss record in the competition overall.
- Del Potro is a 2-time Olympic medallist in men’s singles. He won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic Tennis Event in London, defeating Djokovic in the bronze medal match after falling to Federer in the semifinals. He then won a silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Tennis Event in Rio, defeating Nadal in the semifinals before falling to Murray in the gold medal match.
- Del Potro reached the quarterfinals of the boys’ singles here in 2005, falling to Murray.
- Del Potro was a member of the ITF 14 and under South American team in Europe in 2001 and 2002, funded by the Grand Slam Development Fund.
- Del Potro is currently without a coach.
**** All statistics courtesy of the ITF/Grand Slam media
