Novak Djokovic takes on the 11th seeded Karen Khachanov in the Roland Garros last eight. The third seed will reach his 12th Roland Garros semi-final if beating the Russian. It'll be one of his toughest semi-finals though as the scheduled opponents are either Carlos Alcaraz or Stefanos Tsitsipas. Djokovic hasn't had the best of clay court seasons this year. Not only has he not reached a final but hasn't got past the quarter-finals either. Now he's in a Grand Slam and playing over the best-of-five sets and he is yet to drop a set so far in Paris. It hasn't been too easy though with four sets won by tie-breaks. One wasn't needed in the last round though as he beat unseeded Juan Pablo Varillas and only dropped seven games. He began this tournament ranked third in the world but winning this match will take him above Daniil Medvedev into second spot. He's played Khachanov on nine previous occasions. The only loss he's suffered was in Paris but on an indoor hard court. His two previous matches against Khachanov on clay have both been won, including one here at Roland Garros.
Karen Khachanov is back in the world's top ten after reaching the last eight of this tournament. He can climb to ninth if getting a shock win over Djokovic. This is only his second time in the last eight at Roland Garros but has consistently made the last 16 of this Grand Slam. He's playing in his second clay court quarter final of 2023. He also made the last eight in Madrid but then lost to Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets. Khachanov had a tough time in the first round of this tournament. He found himself 2-0 down to Constant Lestienne but made a great recovery and only lost six games in the rest of the match. That's what is so brilliant about best-of-five sets matches. He's also lost sets to Thanasi Kokkinakis and Lorenzo Sonego and is likely to struggle here. We go for Djokovic to win this match in straight sets.