Federer Djokovic storm into Rd 4

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer both needed four sets to reach the fourth round of the French Open on Friday. The second-seeded Serb won 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4 against Marin Cilic, improving to 9-0 in their head-to-head meetings, but looked sluggish at times.

Federer, meanwhile, was in total control before wasting four set points in the second set on his way to a 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-4 win against Dmitry Tursunov. ‘He played really well and went for big shots,’ Federer said. ‘It was difficult to finish the match, so obviously I’m relieved.’

Djokovic dropped serve early to trail 3-1, made sloppy unforced errors in the tiebreaker, and was broken back in the fourth set after leading 4-2. He sealed the victory on his first match point when the 25th-seeded Croat double-faulted.

The six-time Grand Slam champion next plays either 13th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France or no. 22 Jerzy Janowicz of Poland, who played later Friday.

Djokovic is looking to win the French Open for the first time and lost to eight-time champion Rafael Nadal in the semifinals last year. Federer, who had won his opening two matches in straight sets, converted only four of his 21 break-point opportunities against the 31st-seeded Russian. The 17-time Grand Slam champion even joked when asked moments after the match if his poor conversion rate worried him.

‘I pretend there isn’t a problem,’ he said, breaking into a huge grin. ‘I’ll go for the next one, and the next one, and the next one.’ Shortly after winning the second-set tiebreaker, Tursunov appeared to have a minor meltdown while trailing 2-1 in the third. He argued with the chair umpire and took a medical timeout. He left the court for several minutes.

Federer is trying to win the title at Roland Garros for the second time. He is the 2009 champion, but lost in the quarterfinals last year. The Swiss star next plays No. 18 Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, who reached the fourth round here for the first time since 2008, the year he reached the last eight, after beating Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-2, 7-5. 

In women’s singles third round, third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska became the latest favorite to be eliminated, losing 6-4, 6-4 to unseeded Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia.

The loss means the top three seeded women have all been eliminated, following the exits of no. 1 Serena Williams and no. 2 Li Na. It was the earliest Grand Slam exit for Radwanska, the 2012 Wimbledon finalist, since losing in the third round here two years ago. 

She reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros last year, the semifinals at Wimbledon and the fourth round at the US Open. Her loss leaves no. 4 Simona Halep of Romania as the highest-seeded woman remaining, although no. 7 Maria Sharapova of Russia is now arguably the clear favorite. 

India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Slovakian partner Katarina Srebotnik faced stiff resistance from Marc Lopez and Andrea Hlavackova before prevailing in a tense first round contest in the mixed doubles event on Friday. he second seeded Indo-Slovak pair fought hard for a 7-6 (5) 7-5 win against the Spanish-Czech combo in an hour and 23 minutes in the opening round of the clay court Grand Slam event. Bopanna and Katarina are now up against Zimbabwe’s Cara Black and Robert Farah from Colombia.

They converted four of the five breakpoints and fired eight aces to two of their rivals. However, Bopanna and Katarina had too many double faults, eight in total, to just one of their rival team. In all, they won 85 points while Lopez and Hlavackova managed 67.

Sania Mirza is already in the pre-quarterfinals with Romanian partner Horia Tecau. If both Bopanna and Sania can manage to win the next matches, they will clash in the semifinals, which would mean that at least one Indian will fight for title. Bopanna has never won a Grand Slam while Sania has two mixed doubles trophies in her cabinet.