A Colombian tennis player advanced to meet Spain’s Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the ATP World Tour in Tokyo Thursday.
Santiago Giraldo defeated Dmitry Tursunov of Russia and Robin Haasse from Holland en route to the quarterfinals.
The 23-year old Giraldo, who begun playing at the age of two, is currently ranked 53rd with a 26-23 record this year.
Nadal is Giraldo’s next opponent. The Spaniard is currently ranked 2nd with a 61-11 record.
Nadal is the favorite in this match according to rank as well as his 3 titles compared to Giraldo’s none. The Colombian has so far never been able to beat the Spaniard.
The quarterfinal match takes place Friday.