Nishikori battles past Paire to set-up Nadal clash in Paris

Paris - Japanese seventh seed Kei Nishikori came back from 1-4 and 3-5 down in the final set to beat Benoit Paire of France and set-up a Roland Garros quarter-final clash against defending champion Rafael Nadal on Monday.

Nishikori won 6-2, 6-7 (8/10), 6-2, 6-7 (8/10), 7-5 in a shade under four hours to reach his third last-eight clash at the French Open.

"He almost had it today," said Nishikori who had led two sets to one when the last-16 tie was suspended on Sunday.

"He served for the match at 5-3 but I just tried to fight and play one point at a time."

The 29-year-old Japanese could have wrapped it up in the fourth set when he had two match points but he squandered both, the second on a double fault.

Paire, the world number 38 who was trying to make the quarter-final of a Slam for the first time, was eventually undone by 15 double faults and 79 unforced errors.

Nishikori has only defeated 11-time French Open champion Nadal twice in 12 meetings with both of those wins coming on hard court.

The 33-year-old Spaniard has won all four of their meetings on clay.

"It's going to be a tough match, he's the greatest ever clay court player," said Nishikori.

Results from the ninth day of the French Open on Monday (x denotes seeding):

Men

4th round

Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 6-3, 6-2, 6-2

Alexander Zverev (GER x5) bt Fabio Fognini (ITA x9) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7/5)

Dominic Thiem (AUT x4) bt Gael Monfils (FRA x14) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2

Karen Khachanov (RUS x10) bt Juan Martín Del Potro (ARG x8) 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

Kei Nishikori (JPN x7) bt Benoît Paire (FRA) 6-2, 6-7 (8/10), 6-2, 6-7 (8/10), 7-5

Women

4th round

Madison Keys (USA x14) bt Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 6-2, 6-4

Ashleigh Barty (AUS x8) bt Sofia Kenin (USA) 6-3, 3-6, 6-0

Simona Halep (ROM x3) bt Iga Swiatek (POL) 6-1, 6-0

Amanda Anisimova (USA) bt Aliona Bolsova (ESP) 6-3, 6-0