Paris: Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal and world number one Novak Djokovic were placed on a mouth-watering French Open quarter-final collision course in Friday's draw.

Nadal is seeded a lowly sixth this year after slipping to seven in the rankings and as a result was always likely to face one of his major rivals in the last eight. "It's very strange," admitted Nadal, promoted to the sixth seeding after the injury-enforced pull-out of Canada's Milos Raonic.