John McEnroe deems beating Rafael Nadal on clay as the toughest challenge in tennis. Dominic Thiem knows exactly what that feels like, as the only man to have done so in 2017 – the second time in his career he has achieved the feat.

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following matches from the 2018 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters & vote for who you think will win! 
Nadal vs Thiem | Dimitrov v Goffin | Cilic v Nishikori | Zverev v Gasquet

On Friday, the Austrian will earn another shot at it when he faces the 10-time Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters champion in the quarter-finals on Court Rainier III.  Fifth seed Thiem is considered the Spaniard’s greatest obstacle to capturing a record 11th crown at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament. 

Nadal must retain his title to stay ahead of Roger Federer at the top of the ATP Rankings and on Thursday, he moved a step closer to doing so with a routine 6-2, 6-3 win over Russian Karen Khachanov. Thiem, dealt a tough draw in his first tournament back since fracturing his ankle in Indian Wells, needed three sets to see off a resurging Novak Djokovic in his third-round match.

“Of course, it was important for my self-confidence, to know I’m physically 100 per cent again,” Thiem said. “It was a great win.” 

It improved his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against the Serbian to 2-5. He enters the quarter-finals with the same win-loss record against Nadal.

All seven matches between the pair have been played on clay, with four of those coming last season. Nadal prevailed in finals on home turf in Barcelona and Madrid before Thiem found revenge in the quarter-finals in Rome. The Spaniard had the final say with a straight-sets semi-final routing en route to his 10th Roland Garros title.

“It is a different year, different feelings for both of us,” Nadal said. “It is going to be a difficult match. He is a player that plays so good on every surface, but especially on clay. 

“I can’t let him play from good positions because he has lot of power and it will be so difficult to control him if he is in an advantaged position. I need to take care of that. I need to play aggressive, with higher intensity than him.”

Thiem said he hoped Friday’s quarter-final clash would become the start of another great clay-court rivalry between the pair in 2018. That Rome quarter-final win from last season would be front and centre of mind as he attempts to become the first player to beat both Djokovic and Nadal on clay at the same tournament.

“For sure. It’s a way better feeling if you go against him and know that you’ve beaten him already on this surface. Also two years ago we had a great match here, which was pretty open,” Thiem said, before he reiterated McEnroe’s sentiments.

“It’s the ultimate challenge for everybody, to play against him … I have to raise my level again. I think I’m able to do that. If you do so, I’m going to have chances. If not, I’m out. It’s pretty easy.”

Awaiting the winner will be either No. 4 seed Grigor Dimitrov or No. 6 seed David Goffin. The last time the pair met in February, Goffin was forced to retire from their Rotterdam semi-final after a ball ricocheted off his frame into his eye. In Monte-Carlo, they are also through to the doubles quarter-finals together. The Bulgarian leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 6-1, including victory in their biggest showdown to date, in the final of the Nitto ATP Finals in November last year.

Third-seeded German Alexander Zverev will have more cause for celebrations on his 21st birthday should he find a way past Frenchman Richard Gasquet. The last time the pair met, Zverev fended off three match points en route to landing his second Masters 1000 title in Montreal last August. Gasquet’s defeat of Mischa Zverev on Thursday made him the first Frenchman to notch 500 match wins, 16 years after his first as a 15-year-old in Monte-Carlo (d. Squillari).

Second seed Marin Cilic will square off against Japan’s Kei Nishikori in a rematch of their 2014 US Open final. Nishikori leads the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head series 7-6, including a win in their lone prior meeting on clay in the 2014 Barcelona quarter-finals. 

Kei Nishikori won a match of extreme fluctuations on Thursday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

Nishikori, back in Monaco for the first time since his 2012 debut, eventually got the better of Andreas Seppi and his large number of Italian supporters 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 in one hour and 47 minutes to close play on day five.

Nishikori will now challenge second-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic on Friday. Nishikori leads 7-6 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, but has lost their past three matchups.

There was stunned silence on the second show court when Nishikori won the first seven games of the match against Seppi, who broke the streak by holding to 30 in the second game of the second set. It was the Nishikori’s first 6-0 set since he beat another Italian, Marco Cecchinato, 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 in the 2017 Wimbledon first round.

Seppi countered and began to push Nishikori deeper behind the baseline, but could not convert two break-point opportunities in the third game. From that point on, Seppi dominated the set. At the third time of asking at 2-2, Seppi broke when Nishikori struck a forehand long and broke to love for a 5-2 advantage.

Nishikori was soon left to rue missing a routine forehand approach at 1-0 in the decider, with Seppi serving at 15/40, but the former World No. 4 took his chance in the sixth game. A crushing crosscourt forehand return left Seppi flailing and gave Nishikori a 4-2 lead.

The weight of playing four previous matches this week — including two in qualifying — began to be felt in the legs of Nishikori’s 34-year-old opponent, who continued to fight and saved one match point at 2-5, 30/40.

Nishikori has now reached the quarter-finals in eight clay-court Masters 1000 tournaments – including five straight at the Mutua Madrid Open (2013-17), highlighted by a 2014 final run (l. to Nadal). His next opponent, Cilic, advanced to the Monte-Carlo last eight in 2015 (l. to Djokovic) and 2017 (l. to Ramos-Vinolas).

Earlier in the day, Cilic advanced without hitting a ball when Canadian No. 14 seed Milos Raonic withdrew ahead of their match due to a right knee injury.

“It was difficult yesterday, early in the match [against Cecchinato], I rotated on my knee in an uncomfortable position and felt pain,” Raonic told ATPWorldTour.com. “I finished the match with some swelling and I thought through treatment it would be better, but I had more pain today. After consultation with the doctors, I needed to get down to the bottom of the issue and I was at risk to cause further pain. I will know more in the next few days.”

Beating Rafael Nadal on clay is ample grounds for bragging rights and on Thursday, the two most recent men to have done so – Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem – will square off in the third round of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. The reward for the winner of arguably the toughest of the third-round match-ups is a potential meeting with the 10-time champion and top-seeded Spaniard in the quarter-finals, should he find a way past Russian Karen Khachanov.

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following matches from the 2018 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters & vote for who you think will win! 
Thiem v Djokovic | Cilic v Raonic | Nadal v Khachanov

It was Djokovic who ended Nadal’s hot streak in the 2013 final after Nadal had won eight straight Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters titles. The Spaniard, has claimed 31 of his past 33 matches on clay, with those two losses coming to Djokovic in the Rome 2016 quarter-finals and to Thiem in the Rome 2017 quarter-finals.

“The matches are only going to get tougher. I’m going to just think about Dominic,” Djokovic said. “Last year at Roland Garros he beat me in straight sets. He’s definitely top-three player in the world on clay. He’s one of the best players in general. 

“He’s coming off an injury himself… But he came back yesterday, I think match point down, and had a tough one himself. As I said, he’s a clay-court specialist. He’s someone that has a very powerful game and can play from inside of the court, back of the court, spin the ball, flatten it, hit a 220km/h serve, have an equally effective kick serve. He’s got it all, the entire game for clay. I’ve got to think only about that. It’s not the first time I have to face in earlier rounds some top players. I look forward to it.”

Djokovic leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Thiem 5-1 however, the Austrian easily prevailed in their most recent clash, in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last season. Fifth-seeded Thiem had not played since fracturing his ankle at Indian Wells, forcing him to skip the Miami Open presented by Itau before his Monte-Carlo return.

In his return to his favourite surface, Thiem saved a match point to deny Russian Andrey Rublev 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 on Tuesday. Ninth seed Djokovic, too, was forced to work hard, needing 10 match points to eke out a 7-6(2), 7-5 victory over in-form Croatian Borna Coric, after an earlier 6-0, 6-1 dismissal of countryman Dusan Lajovic.

Top seed Nadal will carry a 2-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head record into his third-round encounter with Khachanov in the match following Djokovic vs. Thiem on Court Rainier III on Thursday. In his first match since a quarter-final exit at the Australian Open, Nadal opened with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Aljaz Bedene on Wednesday. The 21-year-old Khachanov did not drop a set in his first two matches over Thanasi Kokkinakis and Gilles Simon. 

Third seed Alexander Zverev will continue his campaign for a second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court title when he meets countryman Jen-Lennard Struff. Zverev, who owns a 2-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head record over the 29-year-old, struggled to a three-set result over Gilles Muller first up, while Struff defeated Yuichi Sugita and 13th seed Fabio Fognini.

In fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov’s only previous clash with German Kohlschreiber, the Bulgarian prevailed on the clay in Madrid in the first round last season. Both are bidding to reach their third Monte-Carlo quarter-final, with Kohlschreiber coming off an impressive straight-sets win over No. 15 seed and last year’s runner-up Albert Ramos Vinolas.

There is a certain homely feel to a site where you have tasted considerable success there for well over a decade. Tucked away on the fringes of the Mediterranean, the Monte-Carlo Country Club is one such place for Rafael Nadal. 

Last year, the Spaniard became the first man in the Open Era to win 10 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters crowns when he easily accounted for countryman Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the final. He won eight straight finals on Court Rainier III from 2005-12 before Novak Djokovic broke his extraordinary winning streak in the 2013 final. 

“Of course, there are places that you have special feelings in terms of you feel comfortable on court, you played a lot of times on this court, you know you had a lot of success. All these things help your self-confidence,” Nadal said after his opening victory over Aljaz Bedene on Wednesday. 

“When you play in a place, it’s like you play in a golf club that you know very well. It is easier than when you play in a new golf club.

“I know a tennis court is always a tennis court, but at some point you know the court very well, you feel comfortable with it, you have been in that place lot of times competing. When you are inside the court, positive memories come to your mind, not negative memories. That’s always going to help.”

Victory in 2017 was a precursor to two further clay-court benchmarks – a 10th Barcelona title and 10th Roland Garros triumph. As it stands, the 31-year-old now boasts a record 53 clay-court trophies.

Nadal must retain his Monte-Carlo title, which would represent his 31st Masters 1000 crown, to remain at No. 1 in the ATP Rankings. Roger Federer will return to the top spot on 23 April otherwise. 

Russian Karen Khachanov is Nadal’s third-round opponent. The Spaniard will attempt to win his fourth straight match on clay for 2018 after two Davis Cup wins against Germany prior to his defeat of Bedene. His confidence is again building.

“Of course, when you play matches, you feel more comfortable, you feel more safe with your body, you feel stronger, too, physically,” Nadal said. “You feel less tired because you get used to the high intensity… When you play more in a row, [these] feelings come easier.”