French Open: Novak Djokovic sees off ‘Shark attack’

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic celebrates his 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 win over Steve Darcis of Belgium at Roland Garros. (Photo: AFP)

World number one Novak Djokovic and nine-time champion Rafael Nadal racked up personal Grand Slam milestones on Thursday as they moved into the French Open third round.

Top seed Djokovic, looking for a Roland Garros title to complete a career Grand Slam, claimed his 50th win at the tournament by seeing off Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.

It was the Serb’s third win in three career meetings with Darcis, a player nicknamed ‘Shark’ who dumped Nadal out of Wimbledon in 2013.

But it was a far from a smooth display from the 11-time major winner and three-time French Open runner-up who committed 42 unforced errors.

“He plays with a lot of speed, is good from the baseline and it was not easy for me to play the points the way I wanted,” Djokovic said of 32-year-old Darcis.

“He has a lot of talent and it was tough. I am happy to have won in three sets.”

Djokovic next takes on Britain’s Slovenian-born Aljaz Bedene who reached the third round of a major for the first time with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, 6-2 win over Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta.

Nine-time champion Nadal became just the eighth man to rack up 200 Grand Slam match wins as he saw off Argentina’s world number 99 — and fellow left-hander — Facundo Bagnis 6-3, 6-0, 6-3.

Nadal, 29, dropped the first two games against Bagnis but then won 18 of the next 22 to ease into a last-32 clash against either Spanish compatriot Marcel Granollers or Nicolas Mahut of France.

“The most important thing is a victory in the second round more than the 200 victories,” said Nadal, who now has a 72-2 win-loss record at Roland Garros and only dropped three games in his opening victory over Sam Groth of Australia.

Serena in cruise mode Top seed and defending champion Serena Williams cruised into the third round with a 6-2, 6-1, win over Teliana Pereira of Brazil.

The 34-year-old American will next go up against the winner of the tie between France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Babos of Hungary with a place in the last 16 at stake.

Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis, who beat Federer on his way to the semi-finals in 2014, made the last-32 with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 win over Portugal’s 26th seed Joao Sousa. But going out was Australian 20th seed Bernard Tomic, beaten 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (8/6) by Croatian Borna Coric.

Serbian 14th seed Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 winner, defeated Japan’s Kurumi Nara 7-5, 6-1.

Paes, Hingis win Leander Paes and Martina Hingis entered the mixed doubles pre-quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over the German-Colombian team of Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Robert Farah.