Second seed Novak Djokovic takes on sixth seed Dominic Thiem in the Men's singles quarter-final of 2017 French Open at Roland Garros Stadium on Tuesday.
The defending champion eased into the last-eight stage after beating in-form Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(5), 6-1, 6-3 in straights sets in his R16 match on Saturday. On the other hand, Thiem made light work of world number 84 Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 to set up his sixth career meeting with Djokovic.
Both the players have met five times in the past with Djokovic winning them all, losing only one set in the process. The Serb also ended Thiem's run at last year's semi-final with a straight sets win. The world number extended his dominance over the Austrian once again this year when he stopped the latter in the semi-final of Rome Masters last month.
However, Thiem would want to consider his loss in Rome as temporary blip in his dream run on the dirt this season. The world number nine finished as the runner-up in Barcelona and Madrid - losing to Rafael Nadal on both occasions. He also has posted impressive wins against the likes of Andy Murray, Grigor Dimitrov and Pablo Cuevas among others during his successful stint on clay.
On the other hand, Djokovic, who dominated clay last season, had been poor on the surface this year. In Rome though, he managed to reach the final, but fell to Alexander Zverev after a drab show. However, after roping in Andre Agassi as his coach, the Serb has looked in better shape in Paris.
He was tested in the third-round match against Argentina's Diego Schwartzman, but the fighter, as usual, found a way out. In what is expected to be a closely-fought encounter, Djokovic has the slender edge over Thiem, but the Austrian has the firepower to end the Serb's title defence.
