Navas, captain of Sevilla, is the best player in the European League

Serbian Novak Djokovic, the twice defending champion, reached the quarter-finals of the “Roland Garros” tennis tournament, the second Grand Slam, for a record 17 times, with an easy victory in three clean sets over Peruvian Juan Pablo Farias (Sunday), to set a date with Russian Karen Khachanov. .

The Serbian, ranked third in the world, won 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 over his 94th counterpart, while Khachanov (11th) defeated Italian Lorenzo Sonego 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7), 6-1.

It is the 55th time that Djokovic has reached the quarter-finals of a major tournament to remain on track towards a record 23 major title, to break up his partnership with Spaniard Rafael Nadal (22), crowned at Roland Garros a record 14 times, and absent due to injury.

By reaching the quarter-finals for the 17th time, Djokovic broke the record he shared with Nadal.

He jokingly commented, “I am proud of these numbers, but this means that I am no longer young. I put in a lot of effort, like many players… When I play like today, I am happy and motivated to continue.

Djokovic, the defending champion in 2016 and 2021, has a distinguished record against Khachanov, as he outperforms him 8-1 in direct confrontations, and beat him the only time they met in Paris in the 2020 final eight.

The Serbian put an end to the adventure of the Peruvian, who achieved surprises, by eliminating both the Polish Hubert Hurkacz and the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Ogut in only his third participation in a major tournament, to achieve his first victories in the “Grand Slam” tournament and become the first Peruvian to reach the eighth final in the “French Open” since 1994. .

“It was the first time I met him,” Djokovic said after the win. I knew he specialized on dirt and that I would have to fight for every point. He is consistent in level and has a powerful weapon, and this week he presented his best levels.

This is the second time that Khachanov has reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, after the first in 2019, when he lost to Austrian Dominic Tim.

It is also the third time in a row that he has reached the quarter-finals in the four major tournaments, after he was eliminated from the semi-finals of “Flushing Meadows” last year by the Norwegian Casper Rudd, and the “Australian Open” earlier this year by the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.

In the women’s category, Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who was absent from the stadiums for a period of time almost throughout the past year due to an injury to her left knee, followed the example of her compatriot Khachanov, and reached the quarter-finals by defeating the Belgian Elise Mertens 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.

Pavlyuchenkova, who reached the final in “Roland Garros” in 2021 before losing to Czech Barbora Kryczekova, will meet in the next round with Czech Karolina Mochova, who defeated Russian Elena Avanisyan 6-4, 6-3.

“I am really proud of myself, it was a great match,” said Pavlyuchenkova, adding: “I am very happy to be here on the center court again, after my injury. I did not play for a year. It is exceptional, wonderful for me.”

Pavlyuchenkova won only five matches before “Roland Garros”, since her return early this year, and won almost the same number in just one week on the Parisian clay courts.