Showman Monfils to face Nadal in fourth round

By Niko Vercelletto Jan 21, 2017
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Showman Monfils to face Nadal in fourth round

Raw power will take on creativity in the Australian Open.

ByNiko Vercelletto

Published Jan 21, 2017

Rafael Nadal survived a third round epic victory against youngster Alexander Zverev, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-2. While that was pretty incredible, Nadal now has the challenge of facing Gael Monfils in the round of 16.

The head-to-head between these two is lopsided in Nadal's favor with Monfils only having won two of their 14 meetings. However, Monfils has only dropped one set in the Australian Open so far and his last match against Philip Kohlschreiber was somewhat of a breeze, unlike Nadal's win against Zverev which took just over four hours.

Plus, with insane shots like these, their fourth round battle is guaranteed to entertain. Of course, this type of creativity is just standard Monfils.

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When interviewed after the match, Monfils spoke on his meeting with Nadal.

"It's always a pleasure to play against Rafa. We had a big battle last year in final of Monte Carlo and he won that one, but I think I'm going to recover good tonight and be ready for him."

The drama starts late at night on Rod Laver Arena on Monday.

Follow Niko on Twitter: @nikovercelletto