Tennis: Djokovic, Alcaraz reach French Open last 16 as Pegula, Rublev exit

PARIS, France -- Novak Djokovic battled into the French Open fourth round for a 14th consecutive year on Friday as Carlos Alcaraz also progressed, after women's third seed Jessica Pegula and men's seventh-ranked Andrey Rublev were dumped out of the tournament.

Djokovic has made headlines for his comments about Kosovo this week but his on-court progress has been relatively serene, reaching the second week without dropping a set.

The Serb star was made to work hard by Spanish 29th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who served for the first set and missed a set point in the second, but won 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 on Court Philippe Chatrier.

"I thought if I lost the second set we would play five hours today, but I'm proud of the performance," said Djokovic.

Two-time champion Djokovic, who has also made the French Open quarter-finals in each of the past 13 years, will take on Peru's Juan Pablo Varillas in the last 16.

The 36-year-old is hoping to break out of his tie with injured rival Rafael Nadal at the top of the men's all-time list of major winners at Roland Garros.

He is just one title behind Serena Williams' mark of 23 Slams and two adrift of Margaret Court's overall record.

Djokovic, slated to meet world number one Alcaraz in the semi-finals, has now won three of his four matches with Davidovich Fokina.

The first two sets lasted two hours and 47 minutes, as Davidovich Fokina provided a stern test of Djokovic's form.

But the world number three broke when he trailed 6-5 in the opening set before overturning a 3-1 deficit to win a tie-break.

Davidovich Fokina missed one set point to level the match before Djokovic won another breaker before being booed by the crowd for taking a medical time-out.

"That's something that I find disrespectful and I frankly don't understand that," said Djokovic, who made short work of the third set.

Alcaraz thrashed Canadian 26th seed Denis Shapovalov for the loss of just seven games in the night-session match.

The Spaniard powered to a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 victory, with the only slight blip when he trailed 4-1 in the second set.

He reeled off seven straight games after that wake-up call, though, to set up a fourth-round meeting with Italian 17th seed Lorenzo Musetti who dismantled British number one Cameron Norrie 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

"I knew I'd have my chances in the second set to come back a bit and that's what I did," Alcaraz said.

The 20-year-old is bidding for a second straight Grand Slam title after winning the 2022 US Open and then missing this year's Australian Open through injury.

- Sonego stunner -

Italian Lorenzo Sonego battled back from two sets down to knock out Rublev and reach the last 16 for the second time.

The world number 48 was two points from defeat during a fourth-set tie-break but prevailed 5-7, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 after three hours and 42 minutes.

Sonego will face Russian 11th seed Karen Khachanov for a possible quarter-final meeting with Djokovic.

"I played more aggressive than in the first and second sets because when he's aggressive it's tough to compete against him," he said.

Eleventh seed Khachanov ended Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis' run with an entertaining 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) win.

Stefanos Tsitsipas continued his bid for a maiden Grand Slam title with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win over former semi-finalist Diego Schwartzman.

The Greek fifth seed, who a blew a two-set lead to Djokovic in the 2021 final, will next play Austrian qualifier Sebastian Ofner after making the second week for a fifth straight year.

American Pegula's hopes were ended in comprehensive fashion by a 6-1, 6-3 loss to Belgian Elise Mertens.

World number three Pegula has still never passed the quarter-final stage of a Grand Slam tournament.

The former Australian Open semi-finalist will next face 2021 runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

- Sabalenka 'not safe' -

Aryna Sabalenka refused to do an official post-match press conference after powering into the last 16 for the first time with a straight-sets win over Kamilla Rakhimova.

The Belarusian claimed she "did not feel safe" when asked to condemn her country's support of Russia's war in Ukraine during a press conference earlier this week.

The second seed is yet to drop a set in the tournament after a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win against world number 82 Rakhimova.

Sabalenka will face former US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the fourth round.

Russian Daria Kasatkina, a semi-finalist last year, raced past American Peyton Stearns 6-0, 6-1 in under an hour.

The ninth seed will next face Elina Svitolina on Sunday for a place in the quarter-finals.

Ukrainian Svitolina reached the fourth round on her first Grand Slam appearance since the 2022 Australian Open with a 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over Anna Blinkova.

Agence France-Presse

Tennis: Sabalenka beats Pegula to reach WTA Finals semis, Jabeur eliminated

FORTH WORTH -- Aryna Sabalenka beat Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5 on Friday and advanced to the semi-finals of the WTA Finals as second-ranked Tunisian Ons Jabeur was eliminated.

Greece's Maria Sakkari, ranked fifth, beat Jabeur 6-2, 6-3 on Friday night to finish unbeaten in round-robin play.

Her victory assured Sabalenka of second place in the Nancy Richey Group and a berth in the knockout stages.

Seventh-ranked Sabalenka had done her part with the victory over third-ranked Pegula.

With so much on the line, Sabalenka was dialed in from the start.

"I'm just happy that I was really focused from the beginning to the end and I was able to finish this match in two sets," she said.

Sabalenka, who improved to 4-1 against Pegula, took charge early and took full advantage of four first-set double faults from Pegula.

The second set was a more tightly contested affair, Pegula quickly erasing an early break as Sabalenka suddenly found herself struggling on serve.

Despite seven double faults in the second set, Sabalenka managed to keep it close and broke for a 5-3 lead to pile the pressure back on Pegula.

Pegula, who secured her spot in the elite season-ending event with her triumph at Guadalajara in October, responded with a service break of her own and leveled the set at 5-5, Sabalenka digging deep to win the last two games and polish it off in two sets.

"It's tough but that's tennis," Pegula said. "You have one good week, and then you're right back at it the next. There's a lot of really high highs and low lows.

"You end the year well and then I come here, lose all my matches," added Pegula, who noted the number of her defeats this week in Fort Worth was the same as she'd endured in "like three months."

Jabeur, a finalist at Wimbledon and the US Open this year, could have still sneaked into the semis with a straight-sets win over Sakkari.

But she didn't get a look in as a "fearless" Sakkari wrapped up a victory in just 69 minutes.

As group winner, Sakkari guaranteed she won't have to take on number one ranked Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals.

Instead she'll face either Caroline Garcia or Daria Kasatkina, who clash on Saturday with second place in the Tracy Austin Group on the line.

"I think I just have to keep doing what I've been doing," Sakkari said in an on-court interview. "I'm trusting myself. I'm just fearless on the court."

Sabalenka will have the unenviable task of taking on Swiatek in the semi-finals. The Polish star, whose eight titles this year include the French Open and US Open, has reigned at number one for 30 weeks.

Swiatek has won the last four of their five career meetings, including a US Open semi-final in September.

Agence France-Presse

2021 Australian Open: Semis-bound Jennifer Brady changes tune on tennis

Big-serving Jennifer Brady revealed Wednesday that she once loathed tennis but has "grown to love it" after staging a comeback victory over fellow American Jessica Pegula to reach the Australian Open semi-finals.

The 22nd seed finished strongly with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 win on Rod Laver Arena and will now face Czech 25th seed Karolina Muchova, who earlier stunned world number one Ashleigh Barty.

Brady, the last woman standing among those forced into a hard 14-day quarantine after arriving in Australia, is into the final four for the second time in the last three Slams. 

Before last year's US Open, where she lost an epic semi-final to eventual champion Naomi Osaka, Brady had been bounced out of the first round four times in her previous five majors. 

"It definitely helps, just helps overall confidence," she said about making Grand Slam semi-finals.

"Just knowing that I belong at this level, I can compete in the second week of Grand Slams consistently, and hope to continue to do that consistently." 

Brady looked in trouble after dropping the first set and threw her racquet in frustration after losing a point in the middle of the second set. 

The outburst, much like Novak Djokovic's racquet-smash on Tuesday, seemed to refocus Brady, who then ran away with the match after dominating the deciding set. 

Brady, 25, said she's become consumed by tennis, watching "as much as possible" -- a far cry from her childhood, when she disliked the sport. 

"I've grown to love it. When I was younger, I used to hate watching tennis. I didn't really enjoy playing either, to be honest," she said.

"I didn't like to study. I didn't like school. I found that out real quick when I went to college. 

"I was like, 'Okay, studying isn't really for me.'

"So it took me to get away a little bit from the sport to realise that this is what I want to do."

Having beaten her friend Pegula, whose billionaire father owns the Buffalo Bills NFL franchise, Brady is now just a victory away from a maiden Grand Slam final, but Muchova stands in the way.

"She's crafty, looks to move forward and has an all-court game. She's really athletic," Brady said of the Czech, who won the pair's only previous clash.

"I hope it will be a good, competitive match. I'm looking forward to it."

Agence France-Presse