Paris, (Samajweekly) Former world No.1 Roger Federer, the oldest player at 39 in the men’s draw, entered the third round of French Open on Thursday with a 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 win over Marin Cilic of Croatia. World No.1 Novak Djokovic, too, moved into the third round.
Swiss Federer, who is in Djokovic’s half of the draw and could possibly meet the world No.1 in the quarter-finals, will next clash with Dominik Koepfer. The German defeated 30th seed Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to advance.
Djokovic also won on Thursday. The Serb defeated Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to move into the third round. Djokovic hit 31 winners to clinch the match in two hours and nine minutes.
Elsewhere, ninth seed Italian Matteo Berrettini defeated Argentina’s Federico Coria 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 in just under two hours to enter the third round.
Berrettini will face Korean Kwoon Soon-Woo who beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-4, 7-5, 7-5. The Korean won 75 per cent of his first service points and converted four break points.
In another match, 10th seeded David Schwartzman of Argentina beat Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to enter third round while 14th seed Gael Monfils crashed out losing 0-6, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6 to Mikael Ymer of Sweden in the second round.
Jannik Sinner prevailed 6-1, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 over Gianluca Mager in a battle between Italians.
Federer was out of action for most of last year following two knee surgeries. He is, however, getting into form at Roland Garros — his third tournament of the season after defeating Denis Istomin in the first round.
Federer improved to 10-1 in his ATP head-to-head record against Cilic in their sixth meeting at a Grand Slam. These include the 2018 Australian Open final and 2017 Wimbledon final. Federer won both. Their Thursday’s battle also marked the fourth different Grand Slam meeting for Federer and Cilic.
