Paris: Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas turned up the heat at Roland Garros yesterday, booking their places in the last 16.
German fifth seed Zverev needed another five-setter to reach the fourth round, defeating Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 1-6, 6-2.
World number one Novak Djokovic stepped up his bid to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously for the second time.
The Serbian saw off unseeded Italian Salvatore Caruso 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 to set up a fourth-round tie with either Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff or Croatian 13th seed Borna Coric.
Zverev, whose best run at a Slam came in Paris last year when he made the quarter-finals, will face Italy’s Fabio Fognini for a place in the last-eight.
Zverev, 22, had also needed five sets to defeat Australia’s John Millman in the first round. It was Zverev’s fifth five-setter at Roland Garros, and he has won them all.
“It’s a good thing to have in the back of your head. Hopefully I can continue this run. We’ll see how it goes,” the German said.
“They didn’t explain me the rules of five sets yet, so somebody needs to tell me I don’t necessarily need to play five sets every time I step on the court!”
Yesterday, he hit 18 aces and 52 winners past 30th seed Lajovic, the runner-up to Fognini on Monte Carlo clay in April.
Fognini needed four sets to defeat Spanish 18th seed Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
The 32-year-old Fognini trails Zverev 2-1 in head-to-head meetings but crucially won their most recent meeting in Monte Carlo.
Crowd favourite Tsitsipas became the first Greek player in 83 years to reach the second week at Roland Garros as he survived a scare against Filip Krajinovic.
The sixth seed led by two sets when the match was suspended at 5-5 in the third due to darkness just before 10pm on Friday.
On the resumption yesterday, Tsitsipas lost the set in a tie-break but sealed a 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (8/6) success on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The 20-year-old will take on former champion Stan Wawrinka today for a place in his second Grand Slam quarter-final, after the three-time major title winner beat Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (10/8). The last Greek player to reach the second week at Roland Garros was Lazaros Stalios in 1936.
Elsewhere yesterday, last year’s runner-up Dominic Thiem of Austria overcame a second-set blip as he huffed and puffed into the fourth round with a 6-3 4-6 6-2 7-5 win against Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas.
The fourth seed lost control at times on Court Suzanne Lenglen, but his bludgeoning forehand made the difference as he set up a meeting with local favourite Gael Monfils.
Monfils had no trouble seeing off fellow Frenchman Antoine Hoang, whose wild-card run came to an end in a 6-3 6-2 6-3 defeat on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Thiem’s opponent, world number 47 and claycourt expert Cuevas, was a tougher nut to crack but it was a matter of when, not if, for the Austrian.
Argentinian eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro eased past Australian Jordan Thompson and into the second week with a comprehensive 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 victory.
The former US Open champion, who has missed much of the season with injuries, is a two-time Roland Garros semi-finalist.
Del Potro will take on Russian 10th seed Karen Khachanov for a place in the last eight.
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