By Chris Oddo | Friday, May 23, 2014
Rafael Nadal could face David Ferrer in the quarterfinals of this year's French Open, while Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic could meet in the semifinals.
Photo Source: AFP
Roger Federer could face Novak Djokovic in the Roland Garros semifinals, while Rafael Nadal could face Stan Wawrinka or Andy Murray, the official draw ceremony revealed on Friday morning in Paris.
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Nadal will begin his bid for a ninth Roland Garros title—and fifth in a row—against American qualifier Robby Ginepri in round one. The Spaniard’s road to the title gets tricky quickly however, as he could face rising Austrian Dominic Thiem in round two. Thiem won the biggest match of his career a few weeks ago in Madrid when he upset Stan Wawrinka in the second round.
Nadal could end up facing two Spaniards that dealt him difficult losses this spring in the round of 16 and quarterfinals, as Nicolas Almagro and David Ferrer are slated to face the king of clay if the seeds hold. Almagro notched his first career victory against Nadal in Barcelona this year, while Ferrer ended a 17-match clay losing streak against Nadal in Monte-Carlo.
Second-seeded Novak Djokovic will begin his bid to become the eighth man to capture the elusive career Grand Slam against Joao Sousa of Portugal.
Djokovic could face Marin Cilic in the third round and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the round of 16, before facing Milos Raonic in the quarterfinals, if the seeds hold.
Federer, the 2009 French Open champion, will face Lukas Lacko in the first round and the winner of a match between two qualifiers in the second round. If the seeds hold, Federer would face Dmitry Tursunov in round three and Mikhail Youzhny in the round of 16 before meeting Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals.
Andy Murray, who opens with Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan, and Stan Wawrinka, who opens with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain, could meet in the quarterfinals in the lower half of Rafael Nadal’s section.