After surprisingly reaching the round of 16 at Roland Garros, Juan Pablo Varillas, who achieved the feat for a Peruvian, after 29 years of absence in this phasefailed to consolidate the surprise and continue advancing, since Novak Djokovic put a stop to it.
“Nole”, number 3 in the worldswept Peru’s Juan Pablo Varillas en route to reaching the quarterfinals for the 17th time, one more than Spaniard Rafael Nadal, 6-3, 6-2 and 6-2, in 1 hour and 57 minutes and will face the Russian Kharen Khachanov for a place in the semifinals.
The one from Lima could not sign a new miracle, who had played fifteen sets and more than eleven hours to reach the round of 16 of a major for the first time in his career, including two comebacks after losing 2 sets to 0.
On track for his third crown in Roland Garros, that would place him as the male tennis player with the most Grand Slam, 23, one more than Nadal, the Serbian took a breather, against a rival who until now had not won any match in a major.
After two high-voltage duels against the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics and against the Spanish Alejandro Fokina, Djokovic was more expeditious against Varillas to reach the quarterfinals for the 55th time in a Grand Slam, three less than the Swiss Roger Federer.
The Serb dominated from the start and placed 4-0 from the start, although in his reaction the Peruvian had a ball to tie at four, but he wasted it and another four games in a row fell, without the Peruvian’s tennis being able to harm the Serb.
With hardly any shooting on clay, Djokovic has decided, at 36, to give priority to the Grand Slams and this Sunday is his 18th consecutive victory in this type of tournament.
The Serbian tries to spend as little time as possible on the court to conserve energy and has reached the quarterfinals without dropping a single set.
Now only one step separates him from the semifinals, where his career intersects with that of the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, number 1 in the world.
Djokovic will be measured for the tenth time against a Khachanov who has only beaten him once, in the final of the Masters 1,000 in Paris in 2018, which is still the greatest feat of the Russian.
Last year he beat him four times, including once in the same indoor tournament in the French capital. Both tennis players crossed paths at Roland Garros in 2020 without the Russian achieving a single set.
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