French Open 2016: Novak Djokovic through to fourth round

The Serb beats Aljaz Bedene and the clock to reach fourth round of the French Open in a straight sets win.

Novak Djokovic returns the ball to Britain's Aljaz Bedene during their men's third round match at the French Open in Paris.

Neither Britain’s Aljaz Bedene nor the gathering darkness of a far from summery Parisian evening could stop Novak Djokovic’s march towards the French Open title he craves to complete his set of major prizes.

Although Djokovic is not supposed to receive preferential treatment as world No 1 and Roland Garros’ top seed, that certainly seemed to be the case as the French umpire Pascal Maria appeared to acquiesce to the Serb’s wishes and allowed play to continue in fading light not sufficient for play.

From very early in the match it appeared as though Bedene did not possess the firepower to divert Djokovic from his aim of a straight-sets victory and so it proved with a 6-2 6-3 6-3 scoreline. However the concluding part of the 2hr 2min contest was a race rather than a match, with Djokovic doing everything he could to get the match completed before the light irretrievably faded.

Djokovic, normally a serial transgressor of the time rulings between points, rushed changeovers and cajoled the umpire into hurrying up when he was called out of his chair to check whether a ball had landed in or out on the Paris clay.

A rain delay meant the match did not even start until 7.25pm French time and Djokovic knew from the outset he would have to be quick to get finished in time and avoid returning to the court today (Sunday).

For the most part, Bedene, who required lengthy treatment to his right eye during the match after encountering trouble with his contact lens, was rendered effectively powerless to prevent what was close to becoming a charade.

After breaking serve at the first opportunity, the 11-time Grand Slam champion wrapped up the first set in 37 minutes and seemed on schedule to get the job done in time. However Bedene, the Slovenian-born world No 66, who was playing in the third round of a major for the first time, did offer more than token resistance in the concluding set and even managed to break the Djokovic serve.

“I tried to focus on executing the right tactics and closed out two sets pretty well and then the night show started,” said Djokovic. “We went deep into the evening and played to the maximum extent in terms of the light. It was getting dark and I just hope that soon at Roland Garros we can have floodlights because you need them at a Grand Slam. Especially when we have bad weather like we did today (Sunday).”

Elsewhere, the dark cloud of Rafael Nadal’s enforced withdrawal from the tournament did not have a silver lining. Instead, it was more of a zebra-striped one, with Dominic Thiem underlining the constant evolution of sport by seizing the opportunity to demonstrate that he could become the next master of clay.

With the era of the Big Four looking like it might finally have come to an end, with the absence of both Nadal and Roger Federer from the second week at Roland Garros for the first time in 12 years, the search is on for new talent to step up to the plate and carry the game forward. Thiem, the 22-year-old Austrian, figures highly in the list of young men most likely to prevail and his area of expertise is performing on clay. Clad in the in-vogue black-and-white-striped garb produced by Adidas that would give a dyed-in-the-wool All-England Club member apoplexy, his tennis alone makes him stand out.

Ranked the world’s 15th best player, Thiem will go much higher than that — and without much delay. Nadal’s absence from the second quarter of the draw suggests that a semi-final place beckons, at the very least. The manner in which he beat Alexander Zverev, another youngster destined for much greater things, 6-7 6-3 6-3 6-3 to reach the last 16 included three sets of exemplary clay-court tennis that left aficionados of the game on crushed brick purring for more.

France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was forced to retire from his match while leading Ernests Gulbis 5-2 in the first set. Tsonga, whose participation in the tournament was in doubt until just a few days before the draw because of a groin strain, seemed to sustain an injury to his left thigh at 4-2 and found it impossible to continue.

The Sunday Times