PARIS – Novak Djokovic is looking forward to “tougher and bigger challenges”, as he reached his 55th Grand Slam quarter-final and record 17th at the French Open on Sunday with a straight-set win over Juan Pablo Varillas.
The Serb, chasing a third Roland Garros championship and record-setting 23rd men’s Grand Slam title, eased past the 94th-ranked Peruvian 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The 36-year-old, champion in Paris in 2016 and 2021, will face 11th seed Karen Khachanov for a place in the semi-finals.
He holds a commanding 8-1 career lead over the Russian, including their only previous meeting at the French Open in 2020, and is confident heading into that clash.
“(There was) great energy on the court, from the crowd and myself as well,” said Djokovic after his win.
“I really enjoyed it, my best performance in the tournament so far.
“It came exactly at the right time, as I’m coming in to the second week and obviously playing another quarter-final; the matches are going to get tougher.
“Bigger challenges, but I like the way I’m playing and the way I’m feeling, so I look forward to a new challenge.”
On his record 17th quarter-final in Paris, he added: “I am very proud of this record. I have put a lot of effort into my game and I am very motivated to continue.”
Djokovic fought off a break point in the opening game of the first set against Varillas before stretching out to a convincing 4-0 lead.
Two more breaks then helped him to a 5-1 advantage in the second set. It took him just 79 minutes to open a two-set lead.
That was in stark contrast to his gruelling third-round win over Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
The first two sets in that match – both tiebreaks – needed 2hr 53min to negotiate and his eventual straight-set win proved to be his longest three-setter, clocked at 3hr 36min.
Varillas, who had never won a Grand Slam match before Roland Garros, continued to wilt, slipping 2-1 and 4-1 down in the third before Djokovic put him out of his misery after just under two hours.
Khachanov will likely be a tougher opponent after showing resilience to down Italian Lorenzo Sonego 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7), 6-1 and reach the quarter-finals for the second time.
The Russian looked out of sorts in the opening set before finding his range on Court Suzanne Lenglen, using his forehand to devastating effect.
Sonego never recovered from wasting a 4-0 advantage in the third-set tiebreak, which proved to be the turning point of an entertaining encounter.
“After the first set and a half, I was thinking, what am I doing here, he was hitting all over the place so I decided all I could do was fight,” said Khachanov, who made it to the last four in the last two Grand Slams in New York and Melbourne.
“I served for the third set, got broken and was 4-0 down in the tiebreak. It was just like the last match (against Thanasi Kokkinakis) and I won that anyway.”
In the women’s draw, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 2021 runner-up, made it through to the quarter-finals after rallying from a set down to beat Belgian 28th seed Elise Mertens 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.
The Russian, whose ranking has plunged to No. 333 after a serious knee injury, is the lowest-ranked women’s Grand Slam quarter-finalist since the 2017 US Open.
Only five players have reached the last eight of any Slam in the Open Era while ranked lower – Martina Hingis (No. 349 at the Australian Open 2006), Kaia Kanepi (No. 451 at the US Open 2017), Kim Clijsters (unranked at the US Open 2009), Justine Henin (unranked at the Australian Open 2010) and Tsvetana Pironkova (unranked at the US Open 2020).
Pavlyuchenkova will take on Czech Karolina Muchova for a place in the last four. REUTERS, AFP
