PARIS: World number one Novak Djokovic and nine-time winner Rafael Nadal racked up Grand Slam milestones at the French Open on Thursday as Serena Williams coasted into the third round.
Top seed Djokovic, looking for a Roland Garros title to complete a career Grand Slam, claimed his 50th win at the tournament by seeing off Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
It was the Serb’s third win in three career meetings with Darcis, a player nicknamed ‘Shark’ who dumped Nadal out of Wimbledon in 2013.
But it was a far from a smooth display from the 11-time major winner and three-time French Open runner-up who committed 42 unforced errors.
“He plays with a lot of speed, is good from the baseline and it was not easy for me to play the points the way I wanted,” Djokovic said of 32-year-old Darcis.
“He has a lot of talent and it was tough. I am happy to have won in three sets.”
Djokovic next takes on Britain’s Slovenian-born Aljaz Bedene who reached the third round of a major for the first time with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, 6-2 win over Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta.
Nine-time champion Nadal became just the eighth man to record up 200 Grand Slam match wins as he saw off Argentina’s world number 99 — and fellow left-hander — Facundo Bagnis 6-3, 6-0, 6-3.
Nadal, 29, dropped the first two games against Bagnis but then won 18 of the next 22 to ease into a last-32 clash against Spanish compatriot Marcel Granollers.
“The most important thing is a victory in the second round more than the 200 victories,” said Nadal, who now has a 72-2 win-loss record at Roland Garros.
Roger Federer, missing from the French Open this year, tops the all-time list of Grand Slam matches won on 302. Djokovic is sixth with 216 after his win on Thursday.
Top seed and defending women’s champion Serena Williams cruised into the last 32 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Teliana Pereira of Brazil.
It was a routine victory for the world number one that keeps her on course to win a 22nd Grand Slam title and equal the modern day record of 22 held by Steffi Graf.
The 34-year-old American will next go up against either France’s Kristina Mladenovic or Timea Babos of Hungary.
Venus Williams was to follow her sister on Court Suzanne Lenglen against 20-year-old compatriot Louisa Chirico who came through qualifying.
Results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Men’s singles (second round): 6-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) bt Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) 6-7(6), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2; Nicolas Almagro (Spain) bt Jiri Vesely (Czech Republic) 6-4, 6-4, 6-3; 12-David Goffin (Belgium) bt Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) 7-5, 6-1, 6-4; Alexander Zverev (Germany) bt Stephane Robert (France) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4; Marcel Granollers (Spain) bt Nicolas Mahut (France) 6-3, 6-2, 1-0; (Mahut retired) 1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt Steve Darcis (Belgium) 7-5, 6-3, 6-4; Borna Coric (Croatia) bt 20-Bernard Tomic (Australia) 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(4), 7-6(6); 14-Roberto Bautista (Spain) bt Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-1; 13-Dominic Thiem (Austria) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(3); 4-Rafa Nadal (Spain) bt Facundo Bagnis (Argentina) 6-3; 6-0, 6-3; Aljaz Bedene (Britain) bt Pablo Carreno (Spain) 7-6(4), 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, 6-2; 25-Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) bt Quentin Halys (France) 7-6(4), 6-3, 7-6(6); 7-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) bt Malek Jaziri (Tunisia) 6-1, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4; Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) bt 26-Joao Sousa (Portugal) 6-2, 7-5, 6-3.
Women’s singles (second round): 15-Madison Keys (US) bt Mariana Duque (Colombia) 6-3, 6-2; 18-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) bt Taylor Townsend (US) 6-3, 6-0; 1-Serena Williams (US) bt Teliana Pereira (Brazil) 6-2, 6-1; 29-Darya Kasatkina (Russia) bt Virginie Razzano (France) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3; 22-Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) bt Ana Konjuh (Croatia) 6-4, 3-6, 6-0; Pauline Parmentier (France) bt Irina Falconi (US) 6-3, 6-1; Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) bt Camila Giorgi (Italy) 6-4, 6-1; Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan) bt 28-Andrea Petkovic (Germany) 6-2, 6-2; Karin Knapp (Italy) bt Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) 6-3, 6-4; 8-Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) bt Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) 6-4, 6-4; 14-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) bt Kurumi Nara (Japan) 7-5, 6-1; 12-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) bt Wang Qiang (China) 6-1 6-3.
Wednesday’s remaining results:
Men’s singles (second round): Andrej Martin (Slovakia) bt 29-Lucas Pouille (France) 6-3, 7-5, 6-3; 8-Milos Raonic (Canada) bt Adrian Mannarino (France) 6-1, 7-6(0), 6-1; 16-Gilles Simon (France) bt Guido Pella (Argentina) 4-6, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(4), 6-4.
Women’s singles (second round): 19-Sloane Stephens (US) bt Veronica Cepede Royg (Paraguay) 7-6(0), 6-1; 25-Irina Begu (Romania) bt CoCo Vandeweghe (US) 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 10-8; Annika Beck (Germany) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; 2-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) bt Caroline Garcia (France) 6-2, 6-4; Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) bt Johanna Larsson (Sweden) 7-5, 7-6(6).
Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2016
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.