World no.1 Novak Djokovic has become the sixth still-active tennis player to win 500 matches on the ATP Tour, joining Roger Federer (899), Rafael Nadal (622), Lleyton Hewitt (574), Tommy Haas (524) and David Ferrer (522).
The 26-year-old Belgrade native, who turned pro in 2003 and has won 37 career titles, reached the mark on Saturday with an impressive 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win over no.26 seed Grigor Dimitrov in the third round of the French Open.
Novak is the 40th player in the Open era to achieve the feat.
Djokovic won 81% of his first service points and converted 7 of his 16 break point opportunities to beat the rising Bulgarian in one hour and 44 minutes, in the pair’s fourth ATP Head2Head meeting (3-1).
Match statistics: aces (2-0), double faults (0-2), winners (13-18), unforced errors (22-47), total points won (94-61).
Novak will face no.16 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber on Monday for a place in the last eight. The German beat no.54-ranked Romanian Victor Hanescu in straight sets.
They have met three times, Nole leads 2-1.
Djokovic is looking to become the eighth man in history to complete the career Grand Slam of all four major titles. The Serbian star is also bidding to become the first man since Jim Courier in 1992 to win back-to-back titles at the Australian Open and Roland Garros.
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Photo: AP
