World number one and defending champion Novak Djokovic, defeated Alex Molcan with ease to proceed to the third round of the French Open championship.
Djokovic, who is playing in his first major Grand Slam event for the year, won Molcan Alex 6-2 6-3 7-6 at Court Suzanne to book a tie with 195 world-ranked Aljaz Bedene in the next round.
Consequent to the second-round victory, the elated Italian Open champion, Djokovic, conceded that Alex was a worthy opponent.
“I’m pleased with the way I’m feeling on the court, the way I have been striking the ball,” Djokovic said after the second-round victory.
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“Playing against a specialist on clay, someone that is a tricky opponent, it was never going to be an easy match, but I thought I performed very well. Everything is going in the right direction,” the Serbian added.
Elsewhere, 21 Grand Slams winner and 13-time French Open champion, Rafael Nadal, strolled past Corentin Moutet to clash with 26th seed Botic van de Zandschulp.
The victory, which correlated with Nadal’s 300th Grand Slam win and 107th French Open match victory, saw the Spaniard humble the French 6-3 6-1 6-4 to surge towards a prospective quarter-final clash with Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.
Meanwhile, German tennis professional and world-ranked No 3 Alexander Zverev saved a match point at Court Philippe-Chatrier to defeat Sebastian Baez in a five-set thriller.
Zverev, who has never fallen below 10th position in the ATP ranking after being ranked number three in July 2017, beat Baez 2-6 4-6 6-1 6-2 7-5 to book a round three clash with United States Brandon Nakashima at the Court Suzanne, Lenglen.
After the arduous duel where Zverev triumphed over the 36th world-ranked Baez, the former muttered to the latter how it feels to lose on the tennis court.
“I said to him that how he feels now is the worst you’re going to feel on a tennis court,” Zverev revealed to Sky Sports what he told Baez after he lost.
“It was such an incredible match. I know how it feels, as I lost the US Open final from being two sets to love up. I was two points away from winning it and I lost 7-6 in the fifth.
“You always get better from it. I wish him nothing but the best, he’s an unbelievably great kid and he’s going to do a lot of great things in this sport,” Zverev advised.
World number 6 and fast-emerging tennis top talent, Carlos Alcaraz, in a strenuous contest with fellow Spanish national Albert Ramos-Vinolas, proceeded to the third round.
The champion who defeated tennis greats, Djokovic, Nadal and Zverev, to win the Madrid Open, cantered through with 6-1, 6-7, 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 win to schedule a next round duel against United States Sebastian Korda.
