Novak Djokovic of Serbia serves during the men's singles 4th round match against Karen Khachanov of Russia in the French Open tennis tournament 2020 at Roland Garros in Paris, France, Oct. 5, 2020. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)
Top seed Novak Djokovic encountered his toughest test at this year's Roland Garros.
PARIS, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Top seed Novak Djokovic encountered his toughest test at this year's Roland Garros so far on Monday, but the Serbian great still came through in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 over No.15 seed Karen Khachanov to reach the last eight in French Open for 11 consecutive years.
The win, which came as the 35th from 36 matches this season, also ties him with Rafael Nadal for a record 14th Roland Garros quarterfinals appearance.
"It was a very even match, perhaps more difficult than the result showed," said Djokovic, who is seeking for an 18th Grand Slam title.
Djokovic grabbed five of his 14 break points to claim the victory in two hours and 23 minutes, while his Russian rival only took advantage of two of his nine opportunities.
Khachanov won the pair's previous encounter in Paris - at 2018 Paris Masters, when the Russian claimed a straight-set win in the final to clinch the biggest title of his career until now.
The 33-year-old will play 17th seed Pablo Carreno Busta the round of eight. The Spaniard dispatched German qualifier Daniel Altmaier 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.
Stefanos Tsitsipas made history for his country on Monday as the No.5 seed became the first Greek player in history to reach French Open last eight, after seeing off Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 7-6 (9), 6-2 in a 2:26 victory.
"The tiebreak was very tense. The tiebreak was where all the money was," said Tsitsipas on court. "I am glad that I played good tennis and I didn't panic. I stayed concentrated, stayed low-key and tried to take it point by point."
Tsitsipas was edged by Stan Wawrinka in a marathon over-fiver-hour battle at this stage last year, but this time he took chances with his 24 winners against the No.18 seed.
The 2019 ATP Finals champion will face Russia's Andrey Rublev for a semifinals place in the next round. The 22-year-old Rublev recovered from a one set down and trailed by 5-2 in the second to knock out Marton Fucsovics 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the last men's round of 16 clash.
"We grew up playing together. (Rublev) has improved a lot ... It is very important for me to take this opportunity and fight harder this time, maybe do something better, " said Tsitsipas, who has lost all the two previous encounters on the Tour with Rublev as the recent one was just eight days ago at Hamburg Open final.
"It's funny. Both of us had a tough week in Hambug, tough final. Then both of us was down in the first round with two sets to love. Both of us come back. Now we are here and we're going to play each other in quarters. It's like a nice press story of the match," Rublev said about his quarterfinals match against Tsitsipas.
Zhang Shuai hits a return during the women's singles 4th round match between Zhang Shuai of China and Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic of the French Open tennis tournament 2020 at Roland Garros in Paris, France, Oct. 5, 2020. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)
In women's action, Petra Kvitova managed to return to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the first time since 2012 after a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 dismissal of China's Zhang Shuai in the opening match on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Monday.
The previous best for the No.7 seed in Paris was the semifinals in 2012 when she lost to eventual champion Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-3.
"I got a bit emotional last two points of my match. I really started to think still about the match because in tennis we really never know when it's the end. But my memories, happy memories, when I made my comeback here in 2017, when I step on the Philippe Chatrier, I couldn't really imagine me to be in the quarterfinal of this slam. Everything just came back to me," said Kvitova, who was attacked by a break-in knife-wielding robber at her home in the Czech Republic during the off-season of 2016, leaving her dominant left hand seriously injured. It was at Roland Garros that the two-time Grand Slam champion made her comeback.
"It's been long ride definitely. Everything came to my mind when I had my whole family, people who I loved to help me through the tough, tough time," said Kvitova. "I was just playing in the Philippe Chatrier, it was such nice to win the match and to be in the quarterfinal."
Kvitova went into the match quickly as she broke her Chinese opponent twice to surge to a 4-0 lead in the opening set, before serving for the set in the eighth game.
"She played really really well today. I think everything is tough. My ball is very short and she opened the court very nice and used very nice winners," said the world 39th-ranked Zhang, who has also achieved a personal best at Roland Garros by reaching the fourth round.
The Czech player fired 23 winners in the match in which she converted four of her nine break points. Despite missing a chance to serve for the win in the eighth game of the second set at 5-2, she clinched it when an opportunity appeared again in the tenth to wrap up the victory with a love game.
Next up for Kvitova is Germany's Laura Segemund, who dispatched Spaniard Paula Badosa 7-5, 6-2 to advance. ■
