(Tennis news) On the clay at Roland Garros, Novak Djokovic was victorious 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 and took sole possession of the record for the last eight from Rafael Nadal. By capturing a record 23rd Grand Slam men’s singles title, the 36-year-old Serbian third seed hopes to surpass Nadal in the standings.

Djokovic said of owning the exclusive record for quarter final appearances: “I’m proud of it, but my attention is already on the next match. “I know what my goal is here. I’m trying to stay mentally the course and of course not look too far ahead.”

Karen Khachanov, 27, defeated unseeded Italian Lorenzo Sonego in straight sets, winning 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7), and 6-1 to advance to his third straight Grand Slam quarterfinal. He will be keen to cause an upset against Djokovic in the quarter finals.

At a Grand Slam, drama tends to follow Djokovic around, and after he risked escalating political tensions in the Balkans by penning a motto about Kosovo at the opening of Roland Garros, he said he gets more motivation from controversy. Another discussion point came from Djokovic’s statement following a strenuous third-round encounter against Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina that he was unable to reveal his “long list” of injuries because of time constraints. 

The Serb, though, had a drama-free afternoon because defeating Varillas was such a simple task. After cruising to a 4-0 lead on Court Philippe Chatrier, Djokovic continued to struggle with his ball toss. He had to save another break opportunity to prevent Varillas from resuming the set before holding for 5-2.

The only genuine theatre occurred during that game. Following a Varillas winner for 30-40, Djokovic, who had used the energy to defeat the Peruvian, was booed by the French crowd for an innocent display of impatience that involved cupping his ear with his hand and grinning at the crowd.

Varillas, who is rated 94th, almost retired from the sport in 2016 to return to school full-time, but he decided against it and has since had his finest run at a major. He was the first Peruvian since Jaime Yzaga in 1994 to make it to the round of 16 at Roland Garros, but he was unable to emulate his countryman’s feat of reaching the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. 

In the quarterfinals of the 2018 tournament, Italy’s Marco Cecchinato was the only player outside the top 50 to whom Djokovic had ever lost on the clay of Paris. He was never going to be the victim of another shock and soon wrapped up victory to go to his 14th consecutive quarter final at Roland Garros after going up a break early in the second set.

By defeating Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, top seed Carlos Alcaraz also made progress. Later on Sunday, Spain’s Alcaraz defeated the 17th seed in a matchup that was viewed as Djokovic’s biggest competition for the championship in the absence of injured 14-time winner Nadal. Alcaraz and Djokovic are still on track to compete in the semifinals.

Alcaraz has dominated on the clay after getting over his stomach issue. In 26 games on the surface this season, he has won 24 of them, including an easy victory over Musetti, who had previously eliminated British No. 1 Cameron Norrie. The US Open champion has won his last 11 Grand Slam matches.

“I try to not think about the pressure of being world number one,” Alcaraz said.

“I try to enjoy my tennis, I try to make the people enjoy watching the tennis. This is all I think about during the match.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece defeated Austrian qualifier Sebastian Ofner 7-5 6-3 6-0 to advance to face world number one Alcaraz. Early on, Ofner rallied, and he was prepared to push his favoured foe into a tie-break in the opening set. Tsitsipas, though, benefited from the Austrian’s missed forehand on set point by taking the lead.

In the hour-and-48-minute match, the Greek star made just 12 unforced errors compared to 27 wins. Since the opening match with Jiri Vesely, he has not dropped a set. The fifth seed has reached the clay-court major quarterfinals in three of his last four outings. The 24-year-old has played some of his best tennis this season, as he reached the finals of the Australian Open.

Also read: Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas advance to round 4