Diego Schwartzman becomes just the 5th player ever to take multiple sets off Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros
Rafael Nadal beat 10th seed Diego Schwartzman on Wednesday to book his place in the last four at Roland Garros for the 14th time in his career. With the win, Nadal improved to 105-2 on the claycourts in Paris.
But Schwartzman did take a set off the Spaniard in the encounter, which is a rare sight in Paris. The Argentine had also taken a set off Nadal in 2018, and the two sets he has won in total put him in a rather exclusive club.
Rafael Nadal and Diego Schwartzman exchanged breaks midway through the first set on Wednesday. The 35-year-old then broke his younger opponent once more at 4-3 and then served out the set.
But Schwartzman didn't fade away, and instead raised his level to steal the second set 6-4. That made him only the fifth player ever to have taken more than one set off Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, joining Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Robin Soderling and John Isner in the short list.
The second-set stumble on Wednesday also brought an end to the Spaniard's streak of 36 consecutive sets won at Roland Garros.
Only Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer & Robin Soderling have taken more than 2 sets off Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros
Novak Djokovic and Robin Soderling are the only two players to defeat Nadal in Paris, meaning both of them have taken more than two sets off the Spaniard. But while Soderling was put to the sword in their other two match-ups in Paris in 2010 and 2011, Djokovic has managed to regularly take the fight to Nadal.
The Serb has taken seven sets off the Spaniard across their encounters in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Roger Federer, on the other hand, has never beaten Rafael Nadal in Paris. But the Swiss has won four sets against the Spaniard, with three of them coming during the summit clashes in 2006, 2007 and 2011.
John Isner is perhaps the most surprising name on the list, considering his preference for quicker surfaces. The American bombarded Rafael Nadal with huge serves in their first-round encounter in 2011 and even led the Spaniard by two sets to one at one stage.
But Nadal was soon able to restore parity and eventually came away with his first five-set win at Roland Garros.
In total, the Spaniard has dropped a set to only 14 players at the claycourt Slam. Here is the list of players who have taken a set off Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros:
Novak Djokovic - 7
Roger Federer - 4
Robin Soderling - 3
John Isner - 2
Diego Schwartzman - 2
David Goffin - 1
Dominic Thiem - 1
David Ferrer - 1
Jack Sock - 1
Lleyton Hewitt - 1
Martin Klizan - 1
Daniel Brands - 1
Marian Puerta - 1
Paul Henri Mathieu - 1
Sebastien Grosjean - 1