Novak Djokovic cruised past Cameron Norrie 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 on Monday in Paris to reach his 16th consecutive French Open quarterfinals and win his 100th career match on the clay at Roland Garros.
The sixth seed from Serbia will face No. 3-seed Alexander Zverev of Germany in the quarters after Zverev’s Round of 16 opponent, Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands, retired in the second set due to an abdominal injury.
Djokovic, 38, is second only to Rafael Nadal’s 112 match wins at the French Open. He dismissed Great Britain’s Norrie in a tidy two hours and 14 minutes to notch No. 100.
“It’s a very pretty number, but 101 victories sounds better,” Djokovic said post-match. “I will continue to search for another victory, it’s clearly not finished for me here. I’m very honored to make history in this sport, which has given me everything in my life.”
Djokovic broke Norrie’s serve seven times in 11 chances. He won 39 of his 54 first-service points (72.2 percent) and was just as sharp on return, limiting Norrie to points on just 45 percent (18 of 40) his first serves.
Zverev led 6-4, 3-0 in his match when Griekspoor called for a physio. He said later that he pulled his ab at the end of warmups earlier that day.
“I tried to go out there. Probably one of the biggest matches of my life against an opponent that I like to play on a beautiful court,” Griekspoor said. “So I just wanted to give it a shot, but I realized pretty early that it was not going to be my day.”
Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan rallied past British fifth seed Jack Draper 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 and will be the only unseeded player in the quarterfinals.
Bublik, who previously upset ninth seed Alex de Minaur of Australia in five sets, smashed an overwhelming 68 winners to Draper’s 37. Bublik saved 6 of 8 break points he faced and converted 5 of 6 break-point opportunities.
It marks Bublik’s first quarterfinal berth at any Grand Slam.
“Sometimes in life there’s only one chance, and I had a feeling that that was mine, and I couldn’t let it slip,” Bublik said in his post-match remarks. “Standing here, it’s the best moment of my life, period.”
However, his next task is none other than world No. 1 Jannik Sinner. The Italian played in the final match of the night in Paris and defeated No. 17 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.
“I’m very, very happy, because things can go quickly in a bad way, especially in best of five,” Sinner said on the court after his match. “They can go so long, so I’m very happy to finish in three. Night sessions here in Paris are always amazing.”
Other quarterfinal matches will pit No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain against No. 12 Tommy Paul and No. 8 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy against No. 15 Frances Tiafoe.
–Field Level Media
