• French Open

Djokovic and Federer march on

ESPN staff
May 28, 2014
Novak Djokovic made light work of Jeremy Chardy in the second round © Getty Images
Enlarge

Avoiding the sort of upsets this French Open has been producing, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer kept their bids for Roland Garros glory on track with neither dropping a set on Wednesday as they moved comfortably into the third round.

In eight previous matches between the pair, Jeremy Chardy has never taken a set off Djokovic - so no surprises when the Serbian world No.2 eased past him.

The Court Philippe Chatrier crowd had just witnessed a huge upset as Venus Williams was downed by Anna Schmiedlova while sister Serena, the world No.1 and defending champion, suffered a defeat to 20-year-old Garbine Muguruza over on Court Suzanne Lenglen that sent shockwaves through Paris.

The Williams sisters joined a growing list of early Paris casualties including Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka, but there were no such problems for Djokovic in a 6-1 6-4 6-2 victory. He needed only 92 minutes to eliminate Chardy and has yet to drop a set to him in the 22 they've played.

Owner of six major trophies but never the champion at Roland Garros, Djokovic is trying to become the eighth man to complete a career Grand Slam. He's been to the semi-finals in five of the past seven years in Paris, losing to Rafael Nadal in the 2012 final.

Next up for Djokovic is 25th seed Marin Cilic of Croatia after his 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-0 victory over Tobias Kamke.

Federer continued his quest for an 18th grand slam title with a 6-3 6-4 6-4 win over qualifier and grand slam main draw debutant Diego Sebastian Schwartzman.

The Swiss now faces Dmitry Tursunov in the third round after the 31st seed beat American Sam Querrey 6-4 7-5 6-1.

Elsewhere, 18th seed Ernests Gulbis swept aside Argentine qualifier Facundo Bagnis 6-2 7-5 6-0. The Latvian will take on Radek Stepanek in the third round after the Czech beat Russian 15th seed Mikhail Youzhny 6-0 6-3 3-6 6-4.

Tomas Berdych, the sixth seed, recovered from dropping the first set against Aleksandr Nedovyesov to win 6-7(4) 6-4 7-5 6-3 and earn a third-round match against Roberto Bautista Agut, who downed Benoit Paire 6-4 7-6(4) 6-2.

Home favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had little trouble in dispatching Jurgen Melzer 6-2 6-3 6-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier while his compatriot Gilles Simon breezed past Alejandro Gonzalez 6-4 6-0 6-2.

Simon will be up against eighth seed Milos Raonic after he battled through a tough first set that lasted just over an hour to see off Jiri Vesely 7-6(4) 6-4 6-1.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
ESPN staff Close