Defending champion and second seed Novak Djokovic needed three hours and 15 minutes to beat Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 and enter the fourth round of the French Open on a day when Indian players had mixed luck. Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza won their matches with their respective partners while Paes tasted defeat twice.
It was the eighth consecutive year that Djokovic has reached the round of 16 here in Paris. Coached by former great Andre Agassi, he was relieved after the tough win. “Before the match I felt well, I was optimistic and I had played two good matches (this week). I expected a difficult match with a lot of baseline exchanges, so congratulations for a big battle to Diego. He played really well,” Djokovic said.
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Nine-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal however made short work of No. 63 Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-0, 6-1, 6-0, in just 90 minutes in what was one of his most lopsided wins on clay. Spaniard Nadal was so much in control of the proceedings that Basilashvili did not score a point until the 12th game. The Georgian produced 34 unforced errors and won just 36 points.
“I played well from the start, with lots of winners, good intensity and few errors,” Nadal said. It was his 100th match over five sets on clay, and this took his record to 98-2. Now, Nadal stands 385-35 on clay in his career with a comfortable 20-1 win-loss record this season.
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In the women’s section, 10th seed Venus Williams thrashed Belgian Elise Mertens to reach the fourth round. The seven-time Grand Slam champion defeated the 21-year-old Belgian 6-3, 6-1. “I felt amazing. My opponent was really talented, she’s really young. Today I had experience so that helped a lot,” Williams said.
As far India was concerned, second seed Sania and Ivan Dodig of Croatia reached the second round of mixed-doubles with a 7-5, 6-3 win over unseeded Croatian pair Darija Jurak and Mate Pavic.
In men’s doubles, ninth seeds Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay defeated unseeded Treat Huey of Philippines and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-4 to enter the third round.
However, unseeded pair Paes and Martina Hingis went down to fourth seeds Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia and Raven Klaasen of South Africa 4-6, 6-1, 2-10 in a first round match of mixed doubles. In the men’s doubles, the unseeded duo of Paes and S. Lipsky of the US lost 6-7 (3), 2-6 to Spaniards D. Marrero and T. Robredo in an hour and 31 minutes in their second round match.
