Saturday, 1 June 2013


Paris, France (Sports Network) - World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and seven-time champion Rafael Nadal each moved into the fourth round at the French Open.
The Australian Open titlist Djokovic picked up career match win number 500 in capping Saturday's festivities on Court Chatrier by dismantling promising 26th-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 in a brisk 1 hour, 44 minutes.
Dimitrov upset Djokovic an ATP Masters event in Madrid last month.
Djokovic reached his first-ever French Open final last year, only to lose to his great rival Nadal in four sets.
His fourth-round opponent will be quality German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
The third-seeded former No. 1 Nadal got past 27th-seeded flashy Italian shot- maker Fabio Fognini 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-4, also on Chatrier.
Nadal, who will turn 27 on Monday and is seeking a fourth straight title at this lone clay-court Grand Slam event, improved to 55-1 lifetime at Roland Garros.
His fourth-round opponent will be 13th-seeded rising Japanese Kei Nishikori, who topped 24th-seeded Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-1 on a sunny, breezy Day 7. Nishikori is the first Japanese man to reach the fourth round at the French since 1938.
In the match of the tournament thus far, 12th-seeded 35-year-old resurgent German Tommy Haas outlasted 19th-seeded American marathon man John Isner 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-7 (10-12), 10-8 in 4 hours, 37 minutes. Isner saved 12 match points in a dramatic fourth set, as the towering American battled Haas for 46 points over 31 minutes at one point to survive the stanza.
Haas saved a match point against in the fifth and ultimately converted on his 13th match point, serving out the victory to stave off Isner, who fired 27 aces in a gut-wrenching setback.
The 6-foot-9 Isner holds the record for the longest-ever tennis match, when he beat France's Nicolas Mahut in 11 hours, 5 minutes over three days at Wimbledon three years ago.
The one-time world No. 2 Haas will face Russian veteran Mikhail Youzhny in the round of 16.
Meanwhile, seventh-seeded crowd favorite Richard Gasquet blew past former world No. 3 Russian Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-4, 6-3; the 29th-seeded Youzhny upended eighth-seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4, 6-3; ninth-seeded Swiss slugger Stan Wawrinka bested 21st-seeded 6-foot-8 Pole Jerzy Janowicz 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-3; and a 16th-seeded Kohlschreiber cruised past Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-0, 7-6 (7-0), 6-1. Gasquet and Wawrinka will lock horns in the fourth round.
The round of 16 will get underway Sunday, including a match between second- seeded former No. 1 great Roger Federer and 15th-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon.
Federer captured his lone French Open title in 2009 and is a four-time runner- up to Nadal. The 17-time Grand Slam king is the reigning Wimbledon champ.
Also on Day 8, fourth-seeded David Ferrer will face 23rd-seeded South African Kevin Anderson, sixth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will battle Serb Viktor Troicki, and 11th-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro will meet 32nd-seeded fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo.

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