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Novak Djokovic reached another milestone with his 70th victory at Roland Garros on Thursday.
The world number one managed a 6-1 6-2 6-2 win over Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis in just one hour and 23 minutes and has lost just 10 games to reach the third round.
Djokovic has now tied Roger Federer in matches won at the French Open and is only behind Rafael Nadal, while he is the only man besides Federer to win at least 70 matches in each of the four slams.
The Serbian, who will next face the lucky loser Daniel Elahi Galan, said: “The Grand Slams are obviously the most important tournaments in our sport. Historically, they count for more. So of course, winning so many matches in every slam is a great achievement and of course it makes me proud, it makes me happy.
“During the two weeks, it takes a lot of energy and effort to invest in winning a Grand Slam. It’s kind of a confirmation for me that I’ve been able to play my best tennis throughout my career in the biggest tournaments. “
Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas had to rally from two sets down to win in the first round, but it was much more impressive against Pablo Cuevas, winning 6-1 6-4 6-2 with an exuberant performance.
Ninth seed Denis Shapovalov suffered a painful loss to Spain Roberto Carballes BaenaHowever, he fell 7-5 6-7 (5) 6-3 3-6 8-6 after exactly five hours, having served for the match twice in the deciding set.
Shapovalov suffered a hamstring injury and made 106 unforced errors, but was still proud of his efforts in difficult conditions.
He said: “Honestly, I feel like the conditions were as tough as possible for me to play here, with the balls so heavy and it was very cold. I play an aggressive game, I like to step in, and he just had a lot of time. So it was very difficult.
“I am very happy that I was able to get to a winning position and, in the end, it is a bit of bad luck. I think I did everything right, but today it didn’t go the way I wanted. “
The young Canadian’s mood would not have improved when he learned that the HawkEye, which is not used in the tournament, showed a comeback from Carballes Baena outside that would have given him a match point.
Shapovalov has not been impressed with the overall tournament setup and hit the supposedly safe player bubble as well as the schedule.
He said: “Honestly, I think they are not doing a good job. There really is no bubble, especially in the second hotel, I heard. The programming is absolutely terrible. After a five hour game I now have to play doubles. It’s just complete garbage programming. “
Karen khachanov did not let a Twitter feud with Nick Kyrgios derail him when he achieved a 6-1 6-7 (4) 7-6 (7) 7-6 (2) victory over Jiri vesely.
Khachanov intervened after Kyrgios harshly criticized Mats Wilander for stating that Andy Murray should not accept wild cards and received a verbal service from the Australian.
Khachanov said: “I have no problem with Nick. I always said that I respect him. I don’t know why he sometimes acts the way he acts. I wanted to be more polite just to explain my opinion as well. But maybe I just want to let it go and that’s it. “
Carballes Baena will face the 18th seed Grigor dimitrov, who was a 6-4 7-6 (5) 6-1 winner against Andrej Martin.
