Rafa Nadal has overcome a sluggish start and a stiff challenge from Canadian ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime with an enthralling 3-6 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3 win at the French Open.
The victory sets up a mouthwatering quarter-final with world No.1 Novak Djokovic.
For only the third time in his 112 matches, Nadal was taken to the fifth set at Roland Garros, but he kept his blemish-free record intact, wrapping up the win in 4h 21m to wild applause from the crowd.
Nadal will hope he can recover in time from the gruelling contest for his next outing, when the reigning champion awaits for their 59th career showdown.
The Spaniard, who turns 36 on Friday, has lifted the Musketeers' Cup a record 13 times, but was ousted in the semi-finals last year by Djokovic.
Djokovic completed his victory against Diego Schwartzman on Court Suzanne Lenglen shortly before his long-time rival started his match and the Serb is yet to lose a set in his four rounds.
"Of course, we know each other well - we have a lot of history together," Nadal said of Djokovic.
"I am going to be focused, I will try my best. I don't know what will happen, but I will fight until the end."
Reuters
