Rafael Nadal is two wins from his 11th French Open title, but his semifinal opponent knows what it’s like to topple the great Spaniard on sport’s biggest stage.
Argentine Juan Martin del Potro will take a swing at becoming the first man to beat Nadal in the final four of Roland Garros. That’s right, Nadal is 20-0 in his career in French Open semifinals and finals.
NBC Sports coverage of the men’s semifinals starts at 11 a.m. across all time zones on NBC and 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT on NBCSN.
The Nadal-del Potro winner gets Austrian Dominic Thiem in Sunday’s final. The No. 7 seed Thiem, who handed Nadal his last two losses on clay (and is 3-5 vs. Nadal on the surface since the start of 2016), beat 72nd-ranked Italian Marco Cecchinato 7-5, 7-6 (10), 6-1 in Friday’s early semifinal.
WATCH LIVE: French Open men’s semifinals -- STREAM LINK
Two of del Potro’s biggest career wins came against Nadal in semifinals -- en route to his only Grand Slam title at the 2009 U.S. Open (dominating 6-2, 6-2, 6-2) and at the Rio Olympics (5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (5).
But none of del Potro’s five wins in 14 matches against Nadal have come on clay. Their only meeting on the surface came at the 2007 French Open, when Nadal swept 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 before del Potro’s breakthrough two years later.
Ted Robinson handles play-by-play for NBC’s coverage, joined by analysts John McEnroe and Mary Carillo. This is NBC’s 36th straight year broadcasting the French Open.
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FRENCH OPEN: TV/Stream Schedule | Scores | Men’s Draw (PDF) | Women’s Draw