Novak Djokovic wasted little time beating Henri Laaksonen 6-1 6-4 6-3 yesterday to breeze into the third round of the French Open and stay on course to hold all four Grand Slam titles.
The 32-year-old Serbian top seed, bidding to win his second French Open, was at his clinical best in the opening set against the Swiss lucky loser, dropping only three points on serve.
There was a brief loss of focus when Djokovic was broken to love midway through the second set but he was quickly back in the groove to move two sets ahead.
Laaksonen, ranked 104th in the world, had only reached the second round once in a Grand Slam, and there was no way back as Djokovic broke twice in the third to wrap up victory.
As with holder Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, Djokovic has enjoyed a friendly first-week draw and he will face Italian qualifier Salvatore Caruso for a place in the fourth round.
Meanwhile, If Naomi Osaka is going to win a third successive Grand Slam title she seems determined to do it the hard way. For the second time in three days the 21-year-old Japanese found herself in deep trouble at the French Open yesterday, but once again displayed true grit to claw out a victory, this time beating Victoria Azarenka 4-6 7-5 6-3.
Against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the first round on Tuesday, she lost the first set 6-0, winning only nine points, and later said she had been a bundle of nerves.
She lost the opening four games against Azarenka but this time it was less to do with her own mistakes and more to do with the fact Azarenka was playing tennis reminiscent of that which took her to two Australian Open titles and to world number one.
World number 43 Azarenka, on the way back up after her career was put on hold to have a baby in 2016, could not miss. Osaka finally stemmed the flow with an ace to get on the scoreboard in the fifth game and from that point on the Court Suzanne Lenglen crowd were treated to a superb contest.
