(Paris) While waiting for a possible meeting with Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals, the Serbian Novak Djokovic crossed paths with another Spaniard who led him a tough battle for two sets on Friday at the French Open tennis tournament. .

After winning the first two sets in just under three hours against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Djokovic managed to break away from his rival with a major break in service early in the third set en route to a 7-6 win ( 4), 7-6 (5), 6-2, in three hours 36 minutes.

Still as tough as ever, Djokovic gave himself 17 break chances and converted seven.

Moreover, he has already looked better on his own serve, committing six double faults for a single ace and conceding five service breaks.

Djokovic was broken in the fifth and 11^e games of the initial set, to which he responded each time with breaks. He lost his serve on three other occasions in the second set, the last two after he broke himself.

But when he won the second tiebreaker, Djokovic responded by shaking his fist vigorously as he walked to his chair. He continued by winning the first three games of the third set, including the second in the service of the Spaniard.

Djokovic was also much more efficient on his serve in this third set, when he committed no double faults and gave no break point to Davidovic Fokina.

In the fourth round, Djokovic will face Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas, who won a 3 hour 51 minute marathon 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-2 over Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, 13^e first in the series.

Meanwhile, seventh-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev suffered a surprise elimination against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego, 48^e world player.

After winning the first two sets, the second of which could not be more ambiguous, Rublev saw Sonego pull off an irresistible comeback that led him to a victory of 5-7, 0-6, 6-3, 7- 6 (5), 6-3.

Previously, the Russian Karen Khachanov (11^e) defeated Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis in four sets.

Stefanos Tsitsipas (5^e) and Lorenzo Musetti (17^e) also reached the next round with straight-set wins.

Mertens eliminates Pegula

Jessica Pegula quickly retrieved her belongings and left the Philippe-Chatrier stadium court following her 6-1, 6-3 loss to Elise Mertens in the third round of women’s singles on Friday.

On a windy and chilly day, the 29-year-old third-seeded American never really entered the match against the 27-year-old Belgian.

“I have the feeling that I was nevertheless playing good points. Elise was just tough. She didn’t make many mistakes and forced me to play all the balls. And with the windy conditions, I feel like that worked in his favour,” analyzed Pegula.

Victim of 28 unforced errors compared to just 13 for Mertens, Pegula got off to a rough start, losing the first five games, including two on his serve, all in less than 20 minutes.

Pegula had a moment of hope in the second set when she won her serve to give herself a 3-2 lead. However, Mertens won the next four games, and the match.

Meanwhile, second-seeded Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka easily beat Russian Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 6-2, in 67 minutes.

Following her victory, Sabalenka was granted the privilege of bypassing the traditional post-match press conference, and she was able to speak to what was described as a “pool” of people selected to ask questions.

After each of her first two victories, including Sunday’s win against Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, Sabalenka has been asked her position on the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022 when Russia invaded the country with the aid from Belarus.

Two spokespersons for the French Tennis Federation would not say who was authorized to speak with Sabalenka on Friday, but a transcript was distributed to the media. The first “question” was: “Before we start, I know there was a tense situation at your second-round press conference, and if you wanted to talk about it. »

The answer, according to the transcript: “After my game, I spoke to the media as I usually do. I know they always expect questions that are more about politics than my tennis. For many months I have been answering these questions at tournaments and expressing my feelings and thoughts very clearly. These questions do not bother me after my matches. I know that I have to respond to the media on matters that are not related to my tennis or my matches, but on Wednesday I did not feel safe during the press conference. I should be able to feel safe giving interviews to journalists after my games. For my own sanity and well-being, I have decided to remove myself from this situation today, and the tournament has supported me in this decision. These few days have not been easy, and now my priority is to continue to play well here in Paris. »

It was then discussed how Sabalenka played on Friday, her record at Roland-Garros, her physical training and the films she watched.

With contributions from Howard Fendrich, Associated Press