French Open: Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic reach quarter-finals

Top seed Serena Williams

TOP seeds Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic finally made it through to the quarter-finals as the rain abated at the French Open.

Williams wasted little time in beating Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-1 6-1 in their rain-delayed fourth-round match

Djokovic completed a 3-6 6-4 6-1 7-5 win over Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, having resumed in the third set.

Andy Murray was then scheduled to take on France’s Richard Gasquet in the first of the men’s quarter-finals.

Belgian 12th seed David Goffin completed the fourth round by beating Ernests Gulbis 4-6 6-2 6-2 6-3, and he will face Austria’s 13th seed Dominic Thiem, who beat Marcel Granollers 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 6-4.

Victory over Bautista Agut took Djokovic into the quarter-finals, and brought him the distinction of becoming the first man to break the $100m mark in prize money.

The Serb, 29, admitted that coach Boris Becker and the rest of his team had helped turn around his fortunes after a lacklustre start in poor weather on Tuesday.

“With my coaching team, we had some tough talks on Tuesday night,” said Djokovic.

“But I came back today with more intensity even though it was a tough mental and physical battle.”

Djokovic goes on to face Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych, who beat David Ferrer 6-3 7-5 6-3.

Serena through, Venus out

World number one Serena Williams looked impressive as she saw off 18th seed Svitolina in just 62 minutes, making it 18 sets in a row for the American at Roland Garros.

She will next play unseeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, who beat Spanish 12th seed Carla Suarez Navarro 7-5 7-5 – the first of a potential four matches in four days.

“Four in a row? When we play regular tournaments you play four, five matches in a row. It’s what happens,” said Williams.

“It’s something you just get used to. It’s totally fine I think for me and for everyone.”

Venus Williams did not fare as well as her sister, losing 6-2 6-4 to Swiss eighth seed Timea Bacsinszky.

Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands made it four unseeded players in the women’s quarter-finals with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 win over American 15th seed Madison Keys. BBC