Paris, June 1 (Agency) The two-time French Open champion Novak Djokovic overcame a late-match wobble for a 7-6(2), 6-0, 6-3 win before reaching his 18th consecutive third round at Roland-Garros here on Wednesday. The No.3 seed, chasing a men’s all-time record of 23 major titles won, survived Hungarian Marton Fucsovics in the opening set before finding his form. Set one was pivotal as Djokovic opened a 3-0 lead and then served for it at 5-3. But nothing was coming easy, as the clock ticked over an hour and Djokovic stared down break points in three consecutive service games.He couldn’t stave them off in the ninth, a six-minute game going the way of the world No.81 on an uncharacteristic Djokovic double fault. When Fucsovics held for 5-all, he had won 13 of the previous 16 points played.A frustrated Djokovic seemed to be off:
His footwork not sharp as he shouted towards his player’s box, which included coach Goran Ivanisevic. But after Fucsovics saved a second set point in the 12th game, Djokovic displayed his dominance in the tiebreak, jumping to a 5-2 lead and closing out the set in some 90 minutes. Then the shoulders relaxed: The future Hall-of-Famer roared to a 4-0 lead in a matter of minutes before he’d break again, though he needed a back-and-forth service game to hold for a bagel set, 6-0. Djokovic hit just six unforced errors in a clean-as-can-be effort. The third set offered some rocky road for the 2015 and 2021 winner here, too, Djokovic being broken after getting an opening game break, Roland-Garros website reported. The Serbian again seemed out of sorts at times, but managed a break in the fifth game and was offered one more test, broken at 5-2.He would manage an eighth break on Fucsovics to close out the match, a forehand missed wide to close out the affair.