Djokovic won the match against Berankis, the 93rd player in the world, in 1 hour and 32 minutes 6-1, 6-4 and 6-1.
The Serb, however, wanted to temper the severity of the final score: I was solid, I varied a lot in the exchanges. It might have sounded simple, but it wasn’t. It was cooler today (Saturday) than Thursday so the ball bounced less, but I was able to adapt.
A finalist last year, he reached the round of 16 at Roland Garros for the twelfth time in a row, which represents a record in the Open era (since 1968). Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer stopped eleven consecutive eighths on Parisian soil, between 2005 and 2015.
At 34, Djokovic is aiming for a 19th grand slam title to come one step closer to the record held by Nadal and Federer.
To get there, he will have to dismiss the Italian Lorenzo Musetti (76th) on Monday who, at 19 and for his first grand slam tournament, will also aim for a place in the quarterfinals. He puts a lot of spin, power and speed into the ball. It will be a real challenge and I have to prepare for it
, Djokovic commented about his next opponent.
Theoretically, the winner of the round of 16 between Djokovic and Musetti could face Roger Federer for a place in the quarterfinal. The Swiss (8th) must play his match in the third round on Saturday night session against the German Dominik Koepfer (59th).
Another 19-year-old Italian will be in the second week at Roland Garros. For the second year in a row, Jannick Sinner qualified by beating Sweden’s Mikael Ymer, 6-1, 7-5 and 6-3.
Svitolina eliminated
Elina Svitolina, fifth seed, saw her Parisian run stopped short by the Czech Barbora Krejcikova, former double champion at Roland Garros. The Ukrainian was eliminated in two sets 6-3 and 6-2 on the Philippe-Chatrier court.
