Tennis – French Open – Roland Garros, Paris, France – October 1, 2020 Serbia’s Novak Djokovic celebrates winning his second round match against Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
PARIS – Top seed Novak Djokovic barely broke sweat in reaching the French Open third round with a 6-1 6-2 6-2 thrashing of outclassed Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis on Thursday.
Some rare rays of sunshine bathed the Court Philippe Chatrier but Djokovic was not in the mood for enjoying a break in the weather as he won in 83 minutes.
As in his first round against young Swede Mikael Ymer, the 33-year-old met minimal resistance and with 153rd-ranked Colombian Daniel Galan up next his only concern will be that he might arrive in the second week without a meaningful test.
Berankis, ranked 66th, managed only five games in his previous Grand Slam match against Djokovic at the 2013 U.S. Open and it proved a carbon copy this time.
Djokovic, bidding for his second French Open crown and 18th Grand Slam title, has dropped 10 games in two rounds and occasionally looked bored on Thursday, taking every opportunity to practise his trademark drop shot.
The opening set was done and dusted in 22 minutes as Djokovic won the last 10 points and the second set was only marginally more competitive.
Berankis needed courtside treatment on his back before the start of the third set and perhaps felt like staying down.
Instead, he carried on to face more punishment before Djokovic finished him off with a 10th ace.
“Right from the blocks I want to bring in the intensity,” Djokovic, unbeaten this year apart from his default at the U.S. Open, told Eurosport. “I managed to do that in the past two matches. It’s exactly how I want to roll into the match.”
Djokovic’s victory was his 70th at the French Open, moving him into joint second place on the all-time list with Roger Federer and a whopping 25 behind 12-time winner Rafa Nadal.