French Open: Djokovic, Coco Gauff, Azarenka advance to 3rd round

Paris: Novak Djokovic eased into the third round of his French Open title defense with a straight-set victory over Alex Molcan.

The top-ranked Djokovic defeated the 24-year-old Slovakian 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (4) at Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Molcan was able to push Djokovic to a third-set tiebreaker but threw his racket down in frustration after hitting the ball into the net his 34th unforced error to fall behind 6-3 before Djokovic closed it out.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion next faces 32-year-old Slovenian Alja Bedene.

Meanwhi;e, American teenager Coco Gauff advanced to the third round of the French Open by beating Alison

van Uytvanck of Belgium 6-1, 7-6 (4).

The 18-year-old Gauff is trying to improve on her quarterfinal run at the French Open last year her best result at a major.

Gauff twice fell behind by two games in the second set but broke back both times.

The American forced three errors from Van Uytvanck in the tiebreaker.

The 28-year-old Van Uytvanck's best result at a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in 2015.

Gauff is the youngest player remaining in the draw and celebrated her high school graduation this week with pictures at the Eiffel Tower.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus reached the third round at the French Open by beating Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 7-6 (3).

The 15th-seeded Azarenka had only 13 unforced errors to Petkovic's 42.

Azarenka has twice won the Australian Open and was a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2013.