Paris: The two-time French Open champion Novak Djokovic overcame a late-match wobble for a 7-6(2), 6-0, 6-3 win before reaching his 18th consecutive third round at Roland-Garros here on Wednesday.
The No.3 seed, chasing a men’s all-time record of 23 major titles won, survived Hungarian Marton Fucsovics in the opening set before finding his form.
Set one was pivotal as Djokovic opened a 3-0 lead and then served for it at 5-3. But nothing was coming easy, as the clock ticked over an hour and Djokovic stared down break points in three consecutive service games.
He couldn’t stave them off in the ninth, a six-minute game going the way of the world No.81 on an uncharacteristic Djokovic double fault. When Fucsovics held for 5-all, he had won 13 of the previous 16 points played.
A frustrated Djokovic seemed to be off: His footwork not sharp as he shouted towards his player’s box, which included coach Goran Ivanisevic. But after Fucsovics saved a second set point in the 12th game, Djokovic displayed his dominance in the tiebreak, jumping to a 5-2 lead and closing out the set in some 90 minutes.
Then the shoulders relaxed: The future Hall-of-Famer roared to a 4-0 lead in a matter of minutes before he’d break again, though he needed a back-and-forth service game to hold for a bagel set, 6-0. Djokovic hit just six unforced errors in a clean-as-can-be effort.
The third set offered some rocky road for the 2015 and 2021 winner here, too, Djokovic being broken after getting an opening game break, Roland-Garros website reported. The Serbian again seemed out of sorts at times, but managed a break in the fifth game and was offered one more test, broken at 5-2.
He would manage an eighth break on Fucsovics to close out the match, a forehand missed wide to close out the affair.
