Novak Djokovic and the noh World 1 Carlos Alcaraz, victorious by the same score on Sunday, are only one victory away from giving life to Roland-Garros for good in the shock semi-final anticipated from the draw.
In the evening session, for the first female poster of the 2023 edition, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, noh 2 in the world, eliminated American Sloane Stephens (30e), before withdrawing, with the agreement of the tournament as in the previous round, at the post-match press conference.
Djokovic launched
First of the two main favorites of the Parisian Grand Slam, in the absence of Rafael Nadal, who has just undergone arthroscopy in the left hip, to invest the central court on Sunday afternoon, Djokovic did not dwell on it, unsurprisingly .
Facing the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas, 94e world, and not the slightest match won in Grand Slam before Roland-Garros, the 36-year-old Serb completed the game 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in less than two hours playing his “best tennis since the start of the Parisian fortnight.
“Today’s performance obviously gives me a lot of confidence in my sensations and my game”, underlines the current noh 3 worldwide.
At stake, one more record: that of the number of quarter-finals at Roland-Garros. On the very lands of Nadal, who has triumphed there fourteen times, Djokovic reaches this stage of the tournament for the 17e times of his career. Either one more than “Rafa”.
His opponent in the quarter-finals will be the Russian puncher Karen Khachanov. The noh 11 in the world, semi-finalist of the last two Grand Slams (US Open 2022 and Australian Open 2023), overthrew the Italian Lorenzo Sonego (48e) 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9/7), 6-1.
“I know what my goal is here,” says Djokovic again.
In Paris, he has, for the first time, the opportunity to become the first man with 23 Grand Slam titles to his name. Again, that would be one more than Nadal.
Alcaraz tackles Tsitsipas
Entered the Central after Djokovic, Alcaraz extinguished on the same score, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, him in just over two hours, the talented Italian Lorenzo Musetti (18e), another face of the new generation of world tennis, from whom we expected a completely different resistance.
But his sparkling record of 42 winners against only 23 unforced errors speaks volumes about the quality of play offered by the noh 1 worldwide.
“I played at a great level, my shots were of high quality, I played a really complete match”, appreciates “Carlitos”, who quickly had the answer to almost everything and did not let Musetti breathe, yet author of a better start.
Qualified for the quarter-finals, the 20-year-old Spaniard equaled his best result on Parisian clay. He was stopped there by Alexander Zverev, then in the top 5 in the world, a year ago.
Now awaits another big piece, the noh 5 in the world Stefanos Tsitsipas, winner of the Austrian from the qualifications Sebastian Ofner (118e) 7-5, 6-3, 6-0.
Tsitsipas, double Grand Slam finalist (Roland-Garros 2021 and Australian Open 2023) is making his way discreetly in this 2023 edition, but he has only lost one round so far.
However, no one has won more matches than Alcaraz on clay in 2023: now 24 out of 26 played.
Sabalenka-Svitolina duel
After six first men’s posters, Sabalenka and Stephens had the honors of the evening session on the Central.
Quickly trailing 5 games to 0, the American, Porte d’Auteuil finalist in 2018, finally gave the Belarusian a hard time, but the noh 2 in the world came out 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in 1 h 41 min.
Shortly after, and as in the previous round, the organization of the tournament indicated that Sabalenka “will not give [it] no press conference”, a normally compulsory exercise, but that “a interview will be [it] conducted by a representative of the WTA”.
The 25-year-old Belarusian argued on Friday that she felt “not safe” at a press conference after being pressed two days earlier with questions about her stance on the invasion of Ukraine and her relationship with the country. authoritarian President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.
In the quarter-finals, a new match with a political dimension awaits her, against the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.
Svitolina (28 years old), formeroh 3 in the world, is already back at this stage in a Grand Slam less than eight months after giving birth to her first child, Skaï. She got there at the expense of the Russian Daria Kasatkina, noh 9 in the world, beaten 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).
The other known quarter-final in the women’s draw will pit Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who has been out for most of the 2022 season due to a long-term injury to her left knee, against Czech Karolina Muchova (43e).