Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray put next generation hopefuls Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios firmly in their place with comfortable third-round wins at Roland Garros on Saturday.
World No.1 and top seed Djokovic reached the last-16 for the sixth straight year with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over 19-year-old Kokkinakis.
Third-seeded Murray, twice a semifinalist in Paris, cruised to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Kokkinakis’s 20-year-old Australian compatriot Kyrgios.
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He moves into the second week with an unblemished record and seems to be finding his best form in time for a likely quarter-final blockbuster with Djokovic, the man he has beaten in two of the last three finals.
“Things are going better,” Nadal said on court. “Against (Nicolas) Almagro (in the last round) I played a good match and again today I played well and had positive feelings.
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“Fourth round is very good news for me.”
There was no sign of the groin problem which bothered Djokovic in his second-round tie against Gilles Muller as he swept past his World No.84 opponent.
He fired 34 winners and did not face a single break point in his one-hour, 49-minute win over the highly-rated wildcard.
“Thanasi has a lot of talent and strength. He is still a teenager, and he has plenty of time to do great things,” said Djokovic after winning his 25th successive match this season.
“I hope he does as he has a lot of qualities.”
Kyrgios, the 29th seed, and bidding to add a first Roland Garros last-16 place to his runs to the 2014 Wimbledon and 2015 Australian Open quarterfinals, was not helped by an elbow injury requiring a medical timeout late in the second set against Murray.
Murray, who fired 12 aces and 45 winners while Kyrgios was undone by 37 unforced errors, goes on to face unseeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy who surprised 17th seeded Belgian David Goffin 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
Chardy is the fourth Frenchman to make the last-16.
It was 28-year-old Murray’s third successive win over Kyrgios, all without dropping a set, as he took his record on clay this year to 13-0.
“I used variety and slice, tried to mix it up to break his rhythm and it seemed to work,” said Murray who said he knew Kyrgios wasn’t serving at his full power as the match progressed.
“At the beginning he was serving big, over 200 kilometres an hour, and then started slowing down to 170, 180, and not really going for aces.”
After a tight first set, Murray carved out a double break in the second to put himself firmly in the driving seat.
Despite his bandaged right forearm, Kyrgios broke for a 2-1 lead in the third before surrendering the advantage in the next game.
His frustration caused him to launch a ball out of Court Suzanne Lenglen which led to a warning for a code violation.
Marin Cilic, the ninth-seeded US Open champion, continued his quiet progress to reach the fourth round for the third time. The 26-year-old eased past Leonardo Mayer, the Argentine 23rd seed, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
Cilic has dropped serve just once in 40 games so far.
Coric’s run ends Jack Sock, the last American man in the draw, ended the 18-year-old Borna Coric’s hopes of becoming the youngest player to make the fourth round of a major since Marat Safin here in 1998, with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 victory.
On the women’s side, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova powered into the last 16, finally finding form after earlier struggles.
The fourth seed from the Czech Republic outplayed Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-2 in just 58 minutes, taking the last five games at a canter.
Also through to the last-16 was Italian Sara Errani, the losing finalist in 2012, who beat Andrea Petkovic 6-3, 6-3.
Mitu’s merry run There was disappointment though for another Italian, the 2010 Roland Garros champion Francesca Schiavone who lost 7-5, 6-4 to Andreea Mitu of Romania.
Ranked 100th in the world, Mitu is playing in her first Roland Garros, and her three wins in Paris this week were her first at the Grand Slam level.
Paes-Hingis duo loses In mixed doubles, eighth-seeded Martina Hingis and Leander Paes fell in the second round, losing to Katarina Srebotnik and Horia Tecau 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-10.