Djokovic powers into quarters

PARIS: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic reached the 55th Grand Slam men’s singles quarter-final of his career on Sunday with an easy win over Peru’s Juan Pablo Varillas at Roland Garros.

Djokovic demonstrated his superior quality to sweep aside Varillas and reach a record 17th French Open men’s quarter-final. The Serbian third seed, 36, won 6-3 6-2 6-2 on the Roland Garros clay and moved ahead of Rafael Nadal to take sole ownership of the last-eight record.

Djokovic is also aiming to overtake Nadal by winning a record 23rd Grand Slam men’s singles title. Only Roger Federer (58) has played in more Grand Slam quarter-finals.

The two-time champion will play Russian 11th seed Karen Khachanov next.

Khachanov, 27, reached his third successive Grand Slam quarterfinal with a 1-6 6-4 7-6 (9-7) 6-1 victory over unseeded Italian Lorenzo Sonego.

Also, fourth seed Casper Ruud of Norway defeated world No. 71 Zhang Zhizhen of China 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 in the third round. Next up for Ruud will be Geneva Open champion Nicolas Jarry after the 27-yearold Chilean saw off Marcos Giron of the United States 6-2, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 to advance to the fourth round of the French Open for the first time.

Meanwhile, world No.7 Ons Jabeur scripted an outstanding comeback victory as she rallied from a set down to defeat Serbian qualifier Olga Danilovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Court Suzanne Lenglen to book a spot in the round of 16. Jabeur will now take on No.36 Bernarda Pera for a spot in her first quarterfinal.

World No. 1 and defending champion Iga Swiatek eased through to the women’s singles last-16 as the Pole swept China’s Wang Xinyu 6-0, 6-0.

Also, women’s No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina, who was due to face Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo in the third round, announced her withdrawal from the tournament, saying she is “far from being 100 percent”.