Top seed Novak Djokovic completed his 22nd match win of the year (22-3 record) on Thursday for a place in the Roland Garros third round for the 16th time.
The world no.1 raced past Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in two hours and six minutes.
Novak suffered an early break, but raised his level immediately to deliver five breaks, two in the first and second sets, and one in the third.
The 34-year-old Serbian star closed out his 350th Grand Slam match with an ace (305/45).
Djokovic, the 2016 French Open champion, won 75 per cent of his first-service points (48/64) and 70 per cent of his net points (14/20).
“I’m pleased with the performance today, particularly against a very good player, a specialist on clay, someone I have never faced before. I’m playing well, feeling great. I’m ready to go deep in this tournament,” Djokovic said. “Hopefully that’s going to be the case. But I’ll take it match by match, and so far the two matches that I have played have been played in a high quality.”
Match statistics: aces (10-5), double faults (3-3), winners (32-31), unforced errors (22-26), total points won (98-70).
For a spot in the last 16, Novak will face Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania (ATP #93, H2H 3-0).
Photo: EPA
