Defending champion Novak Djokovic cruised through to the French Open third round, beating Alex Molcan of Slovakia 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (4) on Wednesday.
World No. 1 Djokovic had to fight to a third-set tiebreak, but Molcan slammed his racket to the ground in exasperation after hitting the net — his 34th unforced error — to fall behind 6-3.
In the next round, the winner of 20 Grand Slam titles meets Slovenian Aljaž Bedene.
Alexander Zverev had to come back from two sets down and save a match point to advance to the third round.
The German defeated Argentine debutant Sebastián Báez 2-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 7-5.
Zverev struggled with the 21-year-old Argentine’s serve, but composed his returns in the third set.
Things won’t get any easier for third-seeded Zverev, whose half of the draw includes Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz.
American Coco Gauff advanced beating Belgian Alison van Uytvanck 6-1, 7-6 (4).
Gauff, 18, is trying to improve after reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open last year — his best result at a Grand Slam tournament.
The young American was twice down by two games in the second set, but responded with breaks both times. Gauff forced errors from Van Uytvanck in the tiebreaker.
Fourth-seeded Maria Sakkari was eliminated in the second round, losing to Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), meaning two of the top four seeds in the tournament have been knocked out. .
Second seed Barbora Krejcikova, the defending champion, lost on Monday.
Earlier in the day, the US Open champion was eliminated, falling to Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, ending her French Open debut.
The 19-year-old Raducanu broke Sasnovich in the fifth game of the first set, hitting two straight backhand winners followed by a forehand to seal it.
Sasnovich failed to convert three break point opportunities in the first set, but capitalized well with two breaks to start the second, as the 47th-ranked player won 12 of 14 service points.
Raducanu, who also lost to Sasnovich in Indian Wells last year in the Briton’s first match since winning the title at Flushing Meadows, had 17 winners and 33 unforced errors on the Suzanne Lenglen court.
Sasnovich advanced to the third round at Ronald Garros for the first time. It is the seventh participation of him in the tournament.
Meanwhile, two-time champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus also advanced to the third round after beating Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 7-6 (3).
In the most interesting duel of the day in the women’s branch, the 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu and the Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic face off.
