Top seed Novak Djokovic inflicted a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 defeat on Grigor Dimitrov to reach the second week of the French Open, while Rafael Nadal was bogged down in drama before securing his own hard-fought win on Saturday.

Djokovic calmly destroyed his young Bulgarian opponent for the second time in four weeks on clay with the excitement factor barely moving the meter. He did need treatment on his right elbow late in the third set.

“I played well from the start. I came out aggressive,” Djokovic said. “I know from Madrid (last month) that Grigor is a tough opponent. I’m pleased with how it went for me.” It was totally the opposite story for Nadal, who struggled for nearly three hours to get a grip on the unpredictable, dangerous game of Fabio Fognini before finally salvaging a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-4 win.

“If I want to have any chance, I really need to play better,” the Spaniard said. “It’s always the same: when you win without playing your best, you have the chance to play better.” Nadal was made to work, with the first two sets lasting a combined two hours. Even in the third, with Nadal starting to take control, the result was not assured.

The third seed was broken to love while serving for victory and needed to break Fognini for a fifth time to escape with the win.

“If I was playing the right way all the time, I wouldn’t have suffered as much as I did today. But that’s the sport,” Nadal said.

“I didn’t play my best. I played for moments well, and in other moments I didn’t play well.” Nadal will face Kei Nishikori, who beat Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-1 to become the first Japanese man to reach the Paris fourth round since 1938.

Men's Singles

The day’s real excitement was generated in the marathon won by 35-year-old Tommy Haas over John Isner 7-5, 7-6 (6-4), 4-6, 6-7 (10-12), 10-8.

The four-hour, 37-minute epic was highlighted by a Haas fightback after dropping the fourth set despite earning a dozen match points — all saved by Isner.

But Isner, whose serve is his strong point, ran out of fitness as the fifth set progressed and bowed out wearily with a lazy return wide. Isner played the longest match in history at Wimbledon 2010, which ended 70-68 in the fifth set to the American.

French seventh seed Richard Gasquet advanced over Russian Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, while Mikhail Youzhny knocked out eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, the number nine, beat Jerzy Janowicz 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-3.

Women's Singles

Women’s holder Maria Sharapova dodged a bullet as she made a second-set comeback to hold off China’s Jie Zheng 6-1, 7-5.

The second seed found herself in the danger zone against Jie, a 29-year-old ranked 43rd.

Sharapova stormed through the opening set but suddenly began making enough errors to find herself down 1-4 in the second. But the four-time Grand Slam winner engineered a storming fightback, overcoming another hiccup as she dropped serve again after breaking her opponent for 5-4.

But a final break assured Sharapova a place in the fourth round, where she faces Australian Open semi-finalist Sloane Stephens, a 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 winner over New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic.

“1-4 is not a score that I want to be in, but I am happy with the way I fought back, and I found a way to win that second set without having to go into a third.” There was a scare for third seed Victoria Azarenka, with the Belarus player defeating France’s Alize Cornet 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Azarenka dropped the first set but began the second with a break, slowly turning the tide on the way to the third-round win.

Two seeds lost, with American Jamie Hampton beating number seven Petra Kvitova 6-1, 7-6 (9-7) and Serb Jelena Jankovic putting out former finalist and ninth seed Samantha Stosur 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

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