French Open: Novak Djokovic & Rafael Nadal into last 16 at Roland Garros

2 years ago 56

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Dates: 22 May-5 June Venue: Roland Garros, Paris
Coverage: Live text and radio commentaries of selected matches across BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, the BBC Sport website and app

Defending champion Novak Djokovic produced another outstanding display as he reached the French Open fourth round without having dropped a set all week.

Serbia's Djokovic, 34, won 6-3 6-3 6-2 - saving one break point in the third set - against Slovenia's Aljaz Bedene.

The top seed remains on course for a potential quarter-final meeting with Spain's 13-time champion Rafael Nadal.

Nadal, 35, also moved into the last 16 on Friday with a 6-3 6-2 6-4 win over Dutch opponent Botic van de Zandschulp.

Nadal, who was beaten by Djokovic in a gripping semi-final last year, will face Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime in Paris on Sunday.

An intriguing element to that match is Toni Nadal - Rafael's uncle, who coached him to 16 of his 21 major titles - is part of Auger-Aliassime's team in Paris.

Ninth seed Auger-Aliassime earned his spot in the last 16 with a 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 win against Serbia's Filip Krajinovic.

Nadal secured his victory over 26th seed Van de Zandschulp when he saw off a break point before serving out the win.

Djokovic going through the gears

Standing between Djokovic and the possibility of a 59th career meeting with Nadal is Argentine 15th seed Diego Schwartzman, his last-16 opponent.

After a disrupted start to 2022, Djokovic is starting to look at his best and will face his biggest test so far this year at Roland Garros against 2020 semi-finalist Schwartzman.

Djokovic was not allowed to play at the Australian Open, or at tournaments in the United States, because he was not vaccinated against Covid-19.

That meant he had only one tournament before the European clay-court swing and, after an understandably rusty start in Monte Carlo, reached the Madrid Open semi-finals before winning the Italian Open.

Victory in Rome reinstated him as the favourite to win on the Paris clay and against Bedene he showed why with a superb performance which he made look routine.

Pressure was instantly put on the Slovenian's serve as Djokovic aimed to impose himself early.

Bedene, who represented Great Britain between 2015 and 2018 before switching allegiance back to the country of his birth, saved five break points across his first two service games before a weak backhand into the net finally handed over the advantage.

Djokovic served impeccably on his way to winning the first two sets, allowing Bedene to claim just five receiving points.

The sky-high level of dominance slightly dropped at the start of the third, leaving Djokovic needing to fight off a break point in the opening game.

Once he managed that, Djokovic broke Bedene's serve again for a 3-1 lead and sealed victory with another break on his second match point.

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