French Open men’s quarter-finals: Djokovic battles Berdych, Thiem tackles Goffin

Jamie Clark, Sports Editor | June 1, 2016

2016 French Open

• Men’s Singles Quarter-finals
• Thursday, June 2nd
• Matches scheduled: From 12:00 BST
• Roland Garros, Paris
• Live on ITV4 and Eurosport

Novak Djokovic v Tomas Berdych

ATP world number one Novak Djokovic faces familiar foe and top seed Tomas Berdych in the French Open quarter-finals and, despite a dominant head-to-head record of 23-2, one of the Serbian racket star’s rare defeats to his Czech opponent came on clay.

That was at the Rome Masters (a tournament of many names) three years ago, however, and deadly Djokovic has recorded 10 consecutive victories against Berdych since. It should come as no surprise for punters to learn, then, that Djokovic starts as an overhwleming odds-on 1/14 match favourite and 4/9 to end his wait for a career Grand Slam.

Dropping just a single set at Roland Garros so far, Djokovic has historically found Berdych battles fairly straightforward, so that price can be enhanced to a better 8/13 for a 3-0 straight sets result in favour of the Serb.

Making any sort of case for considerable 7/1 match outsider Berdych is difficult, though he did take a set off Djokovic in their last clay court encounter. There is more appeal about the 11/4 on offer for Djokovic winning this French Open fixture in four sets.

Dominic Thiem v David Goffin