Tsitsipas into French Open third round as Djokovic row escalates

Paris — Stefanos Tsitsipas enjoyed an incident-free path into the third round of the French Open with a win over Roberto Carballes Baena on Wednesday, but all eyes were on Novak Djokovic as a political row sparked by the two-times champion intensified.

Tsitsipas is chasing his first Grand Slam title and made a sluggish start to his campaign against Jiri Vesely but the fifth seed looked back to his best against Carballes Baena, as he came through a mid-match test to beat the Spaniard 6-3 7-6(4) 6-2.

Anna Blinkova later dashed French hopes with a stunning 4-6 6-3 7-5 win over fifth seed Caroline Garcia, finally wrapping up the thrilling contest on her ninth match point.

The fallout of Djokovic’s statement earlier this week that “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” continued as the Kosovo Olympic authorities asked the International Olympic Committee to open disciplinary proceedings against the world No 3.

Djokovic wrote the message on a camera lens after his first-round win on Monday, the same day that 30 Nato peacekeeping troops were hurt in clashes with Serb protesters, 52 of whom were also wounded, in the town of Zvecan — where the 22-times Major champion’s father grew up.

France’s sports minister, Amelie Oudea-Castera, said the message sent by Djokovic, who was due to take on Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics at Roland Garros later on Wednesday night, was “not appropriate” and should not happen again.

But the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said Djokovic’s statement does not violate any rules because the Grand Slam rule book does not ban political statements.

The ITF, the governing body of world tennis, said it has received and acknowledged a letter from the Kosovo tennis federation and has forwarded it to “the relevant Grand Slam authority”.

Epic win

“Rules for player conduct at a Grand Slam event are governed by the Grand Slam rule book … There is no provision in this that prohibits political statements,” an ITF spokesperson said.

Three-times quarter-finalist Elina Svitolina took a leaf out of her husband, Gael Monfils’, playbook after his epic win over Sebastian Baez a day earlier to script her own comeback and down Australian Storm Hunter 2-6 6-3 6-1.

She then waded into the debate about Djokovic and said he should have the right to express his opinion.

“If you stand for something, you think that this is the way, you should say,” Svitolina said. “If you are with a friend sitting, talking, you're going to say your opinion, he is going to say his opinion. So why not?”

Meanwhile, 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko’s disappointing run continued as unseeded American Peyton Stearns prevailed 6-3 1-6 6-2 in their second-round clash.

World No 3 Jessica Pegula, who is hoping to hoist her maiden Grand Slam trophy on the Parisian clay, advanced into the third round after her ailing Italian opponent Camila Giorgi retired after losing the opening set 6-2. 

Second seed Aryna Sabalenka fought off a determined challenge from fellow Belarusian Iryna Shymanovich   to move into the third round with a 7-5 6-2 victory.

Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis needed 4hr 38min to beat Swiss Stan Wawrinka 3-6 7-5 6-3 6-7(4) 6-3.

Chased back

Russian ninth seed Daria Kasatkina produced an early candidate for shot of the tournament during a classy 6-3 6-4 defeat of former runner-up Marketa Vondrousova to sweep into the third round.

Kasatkina was coming under pressure from the left-handed Czech at 2-3 down in the second set and 30-30 and looked about to go break point down as she chased back to retrieve a superb lob volley by Vondrousova.

But the 26-year-old conjured a magical between the-legs shot that flashed by a stunned opponent who had advanced to the net.

She duly held serve with a forehand winner but Vondrousova, who reached the final in 2019 when she lost to Ash Barty, stuck to her task and had a point to lead 5-3 before Kasatkina hit back to reel off the last three games.

Kasatkina lost to Swiatek in the semifinals at Roland Garros in 2022  and remains one of the most inventive players on the women’s circuit.

Asked on court about her tweener, Kasatkina said it had nothing to do with luck.

“When I was a child I was at home practising this shot against the wall, hitting the wall, lobbing myself and playing the tweener all the time,” she said.

“Maybe two hours a day, so it’s not luck. I practised this shot a lot and finally it paid off.”

Reuters