French Open 2018: Friday Roland-Garros Schedule and Bracket Predictions

Rafael Nadal will play Juan Martin del Potro on Friday for the chance to reach his 11th French Open final.

The pair will go head-to-head at Roland-Garros in the second men's singles semi-final after surprise package Marco Cecchinato faces off against seventh seed Dominic Thiem.

Both matches will take place on Court Philippe Chatrier, with the first starting at 12 pm. BST (7 a.m. ET) and the second following on, though it won't start before 2:30 p.m. BST (9:30 a.m. ET).

Read on for a look at what to expect from the two clashes.

Nadal to Reach the Final

There's no denying Nadal was aided by a break in play in his quarter-final against Diego Schwartzman, who was a set and a break up when the heavens opened in Paris on Wednesday and play was suspended until the following day.

However, when play resumed, the No. 1 seed was back to his best, per the New York Times' Christopher Clarey:

With that kind of superb play from the Spaniard, he'll be almost impossible to beat.

Del Potro came through in four sets against Marin Cilic in his last match to reach his first semi-final at Roland-Garros since 2009.

As tennis writer Ricky Dimon noted, having to play the match across two days has done him no favours:

The Argentinian has a fairly respectable record against Nadal, having won five of their 14 meetings, but Nadal has never lost a semi-final at Roland-Garros, and with the momentum from his previous match, it's unlikely he'll do so now.

Thiem Will End Cecchinato's Fairytale Run

Few would have predicted Cecchinato would have made it this far in Paris, even after he won the Hungarian Open in April.

That would particularly have been the case when he met Novak Djokovic in the quarter-final, but the Italian played out of his skin and picked up another victory, per Record's Jose Morgado:

The 25-year-old had never made it past the first round at a Grand Slam before, but his upcoming opponent is an old hand at reaching this stage of the French Open.

Thiem celebrated reaching his third consecutive semi-final at Roland-Garros on Twitter:

He came through his quarter-final with a comfortable win over second seed Alexander Zverev, who had been taken to five sets in his last three matches:

The Austrian played Djokovic and Nadal in his previous semi-finals, but against Cecchinato, he has the best chance of his career thus far to reach a Grand Slam final.

Cecchinato will by no means be an easy opponent given the form he's in, but Thiem should be fresh after his win over Zverev and should progress.