Tuesday cover: Serena Williams has relative waltz to French Open title

The National's Sport cover for the Tuesday, June 2 issue, featuring Serena Williams as she stands alone among top seeds at the French Open with Maria Sharapova's fourth-round exit.

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The National's Sport cover for the Tuesday, June 2 issue, featuring Serena Williams who survived Sloane Stephens in the fourth round of the French Open and, with Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep and the rest of the top six seeds gone, a clear path to her 20th grand slam title.

It’s the opposite on the men’s side of the draw, where seven of the top eight have made it into the quarter-finals, just 14th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga that not entirely surprising outlier.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are set to meet, with the Spaniard saying of his opponent: "He's the world No 1 and is having a great season. It'll be a complicated match."

Djokovic, who needs a French Open title to complete the career grand slam, said: “It’s the biggest challenge I can have on clay. He’s lost just once here in his career.”

Roger Federer meanwhile calls his quarter-final against compatriot Stan Wawrinka "special".

As for Serena, she's the last – and best – of the favourites left standing after Maria Sharapova went out 6-7 (3/7), 4-6 to Lucie Safarova.

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