Stepping on center court to take on 88th-ranked Damir Dzumhur, Roger Federer was on his guard. The 17-time Grand Slam champion had been caught cold at a previous French Open by a player ranked as low as the 23-year-old Bosnian, and he made sure that did not happen again. Federer advanced to the fourth round for the 11th straight year with a clinical 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win on Friday.
“I’d never played him before, he moves well, he’s very quick. I didn’t know him and I didn’t know how he’d play on the key points,” said Federer, who lost in the first round in Paris to the 88th-ranked luis Horna 12 years ago.
The 33-year-old Swiss, who is seeded second at the tournament, won his only French Open title in 2009. After winning his first two matches in straight sets, Federer put on another aggressive and solid display, saving four of the five break points he faced.
Federer hit a superb forehand passing shot to earn a match point and sealed it when Dzumhur sent a backhand into the net. Federer will next be up against either 13th-seeded Gael Monfils or No. 21 seed Pablo Cuevas.
After struggling in her first two matches at the French Open, Ana Ivanovic eased past Donna Vekic 6-0, 6-3 Friday to book a spot in the second week at the clay-court Grand Slam.
The last time Ivanovic made the fourth round of a major was at the Australian Open in 2014. She was eliminated by 142nd-ranked lucie Hradecka in Melbourne earlier this year after playing with a broken toe. Playing on Court Suzanne lenglen, Ivanovic was broken in the third game of the second set. She recovered quickly though, winning five of the next six games.
Also, local favorite Alize Cornet advanced to her maiden fourth-round match in 11 attempts at her home tournament with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 hard-fought win over Mirjana lucic-Baroni.
Defending champion Maria Sharapova is into the French Open fourth round after beating Samantha 6-3, 6-4.
Fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych is into the French Open fourth round, overcoming a tough start to beat Benoit Paire 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4.