Three-times champion Novak Djokovic roared into the French Open quarter-finals by beating Briton Cameron Norrie 6-2 6-3 6-2 for his 100th match victory at Roland Garros on Monday to join Rafa Nadal in one of sport’s most exclusive fraternities.
The Serbian’s determined performance ensured he became only the second man to win a century of matches at the Parisian Grand Slam following the retired Nadal (112), keeping him on track for a record 25th major at the site of his Olympic gold last year.
It also made Roland Garros Djokovic’s most successful Grand Slam in terms of match wins, bettering the 99 victories that the has at the Australian Open, although the 38-year-old has lifted the trophy a staggering 10 times at Melbourne Park.
Djokovic arrived in Paris having won his 100th tour-level trophy in an otherwise lacklustre year and has not dropped a set in the tournament so far to remind his much younger title rivals of his undiminished hunger for more milestones.
He swapped breaks early on with Norrie in the first set but ran the 29-year-old ragged thereafter to win it before shrugging off another wobble on serve in a draining second set to pull away and double his advantage on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Djokovic broke to love in the third game of the third set after an unforced error by Norrie and the former world number one never looked back from there to book a last-eight meeting with German third seed Alexander Zverev.
Zverev marches into quarter-finals
Alexander Zverev continued his dominant run at French Open 2025, reaching the quarter-finals for the seventh time in eight years after his fourth-round opponent Tallon Griekspoor was forced to retire midway through their clash on Monday. The World No. 3 led 6-4, 3-0 on Court Suzanne-Lenglen when Griekspoor, seemingly drained of energy, called for the physio and then decided to end the match after 54 minutes. The Dutchman had made a bright start, breaking Zverev early and racing to a 3-0 lead in the opening set, but his intensity faded rapidly as the German regained control.
It marked the third meeting of the season between the two players, whose budding rivalry has produced thrilling battles throughout 2024. Griekspoor had claimed a landmark win over Zverev at Indian Wells earlier this year, saving five match points before clinching the biggest victory of his career in tense tiebreaks. Zverev responded by avenging the loss on home soil in Munich, edging another tight contest en route to lifting the title.
Now leading their overall 8-2, Zverev appears to be peaking at the right time in Paris. A finalist last year, where he fell in five sets to Carlos Alcaraz, Zverev has looked assured in his 2025 campaign, brushing aside Learner Tien, Jesper de Jong, and Flavio Cobolli in earlier rounds before Monday’s abbreviated win.
Gauff speeds into last 8, Pegula crashes out
Second seed Coco Gauff brushed aside Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-0 7-5 on Monday to move into the French Open quarter-finals and stay on course for her first title in Paris.
Gauff, who got to the final in 2022 and semi-finals last year, is the youngest American player to reach at least the fourth round at seven consecutive Grand Slams since Venus Williams between 1997-1999. The Americans are guaranteed another quarter-finalist with Australian Open champion Madison Keys facing Hailey Baptiste in the round of 16 later on Monday. The winner faces Gauff.
Fellow American and third seed Jessica Pegula, however, failed to join Gauff in the last eight after crashing out to France’s 361st-ranked Lois Boisson after a three-set battle.
Five American women and three American men reached the fourth round in Paris this year to equal a 40-year-old record.
Russian teenager Mirra Andreva also punched her last eight ticket after overcoming Australian 17th seed Daria Kasatkina 6-3 7-5 to become the youngest player to reach back-to-back French Open quarter-finals in nearly three decades.