Rafael Nadal and Bernard Tomic will battle for a semifinal spot in Stuttgart on Friday. Gael Monfils and Philipp Kohlschreiber are also in action.

(1) Rafael Nadal vs. (5) Bernard Tomic

Nadal and Tomic will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers when they collide in the quarterfinals of the Mercedes Cup on Friday. Both of their previous encounters have come at the Australian Open and Nadal has never surendered a set. He prevailed 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 in 2011 and advanced via retirement in 2014 after taking the first set 6-4.

Nadal’s grass-court campaign got off to a bit of a rocky start on Thursday but he fought past Marcos Baghdatis 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-2 after two hours and 40 minutes. The 10th-ranked Spaniard is now 30-10 on the season and looking for just his second title of the year. Tomic did not drop a set in victories…