We’ve already had a number of blockbuster matches in Monte Carlo this week, but this could be the biggest one yet: Dominic Thiem and Novak Djokovic will do battle for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Here are five things to know about what could be an epic round of 16 encounter on Thursday:
Neither player has had an easy time getting to this round. Thiem in particular—having missed the last five weeks with a right ankle injury, the No.5-seeded Austrian barely escaped his opening match here on Tuesday, fighting off a match point down 5-4 in the third to edge Andrey Rublev, 5-7, 7-5, 7-5.
And after a 56-minute, 6-0, 6-1 win over Dusan Lajovic in his first-round match, the No.9-seeded Djokovic was pushed to the limit in his second-round match against Borna Coric on Wednesday, needing a total of 10 match points to close out the Croat after two hours and 15 minutes, 7-6 (2), 7-5.
Djokovic leads the head-to-head, 5-1, but Thiem’s only win came in their last meeting. Djokovic almost completely dominated their first five career meetings—he only dropped one set and Thiem had to go to the end of the planet to get it, winning a 12-10 tiebreaker set at the ATP Finals in 2016.
But Thiem finally broke through in their last meeting in the French Open quarterfinals last year, saving set points to sneak out the first set and never really looking back en route to a 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-0 victory.
“To beat him in the quarterfinals of the French Open is a dream,” Thiem would say afterwards.
Match point from Djokovic's win over Coric in Monte Carlo:
