Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal reach fourth round of French Open 2022

Paris: Defending champion Novak Djokovic and 13-time winner Rafael Nadal progressed to fourth round of the French Open with straight-sets wins in Paris on Friday.

Djokovic and Nadal will face each other in the quarterfinal if the two win their fourth-round matches against Argentine Diego Schwartzman and Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, respectively.

Serbian world no. 1 Djokovic beat world no. 195 Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour 44 minutes on the Philippe-Chatrier Court. "It's not possible to play perfectly but to strive to play close to perfection," Djokovic said in an on-court interview.

Fifth-seeded Nadal took two hours 11 minutes to defeat 26th-seeded Dutchman Botic Van De Zandschulp 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 on the Suzanne-Lenglen Court.

"I had my chance with a break point for 5-0 then match was over but he made a great second serve," Nadal said on court. "Then I played a bad game with my serve and he started to play aggressive and you feel a bit of nerves to finish the match.

"Straight sets, it was my best match of the tournament for two sets and a half."

Schwartzman, seeded 15th, had a comfortable 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 win over 18th-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in his third-round match. However, ninth-seeded Auger-Aliassime had to work hard to go past Serbian Filip Krajinovic 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2), 7-5 in three hours.

Bernabe Zapata Miralles beat John Isner 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 in another third round match.

The American teenager Coco Gauff moved through to the last 16 with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-4 win over the Estonian veteran Kaia Kanepi.

Kanepi, who at nearly 37 is twice Gauff's age, was bidding for her second win over a seeded player this fortnight, having beaten No.10 seed Garbine Muguruza in the first round, but No.18 seed Gauff had little trouble in the 83-minute victory.

For a spot in the quarterfinals, Gauff will face No.31 seed Elise Mertens, who was a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Varvara Gracheva.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich scored her second win against a Grand Slam champion this fortnight in a 6-4, 7-6(5) upset of No.21 seed Angelique Kerber.

Sasnovich lost to Kerber in three sets last week during the latter's title-winning run in Strasbourg, but she didn't need to go the distance to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career. Broken to start the match, and twice in the second set, Sasnovich recovered each time.

Canadian tennis player Leylah Fernandez reached the fourth round after triumphing 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 over No 14 seed Belinda Bencic.

No 17 seed Fernandez will meet No 27 seed Amanda Anisimova, who advanced after an ankle injury forced Karolina Muchova to retire trailing 6-7(7), 6-2, 3-0.

Moreover, Alize Cornet stunned 13th seed Jelena Ostapenko 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 to reach Round 4.

Jil Teichmann beat 15th seed Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 in a thriller, Martina Trevisan beat Daria Saville 6-3, 6-4 while Sloane Stephens beat Diane Parry 6-2, 6-3 in other third round matches on Friday.

Also read: Djokovic, Nadal seeded to meet in French Open quarterfinals

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