PARIS, May 30, 2019
Novak Djokovic won his 23rd straight Grand Slam match with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Swiss lucky loser Henri Laaksonen on Thursday and advanced to the third round at Roland Garros for the 14th consecutive year. The World No. 1 from Serbia converted six of 10 break points to prevail after one hour and 33 minutes.
“I think I served well. I used my forehand from different parts of the court really well. Solid backhand. Just two very solid matches. I didn’t drop my level too much. I didn’t spend too much time on the court. So all is going in the right direction,” Djokovic commented on what has pleased him most in his two matches this week.
The 32-year-old from Belgrade will next face Italian qualifier Salvatore Caruso, who upset No. 26th seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
“I’ve never trained [with Caruso],” said Djokovic. “[I] don’t know much about him, to be honest… I’m going to have to do my homework, do analysis on him. I watched him play a little bit today when I was waiting for my match. I saw he came from qualifications. He won what, now, five matches? So there is a lot of confidence. He has nothing to lose. I’m sure he’s going to be very motivated to play his best.”
With Juan Martin del Potro‘s win over Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, all top eight seeds in the men’s draw have advanced to the third round at Roland Garros for the fifth straight year. The Argentine won 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-2 in three hours and 46 minutes. Up next for del Potro will be Australia’s Jordan Thompson.
No. 14 seed Gael Monfils defeated his French countryman Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the third round of the French Open for the 11th time in 13 appearances. The 32-year-old converted five of eight break points to advance one hour and 43 minutes on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
“I have to try to better manage my beginnings of second sets. Afterwards, I did a solid match today by serving quite strongly and quite fast, and I was successful,” Monfils said.
Monfils will next meet French wild card entry Antoine Hoang, who edged out No. 23 seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 in his Grand Slam debut.
