Novak Djokovic vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis: Score and Reaction from 2015 French Open
Novak Djokovic eased into the fourth round of the French Open after disposing of Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis in straight sets.
The 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory was nothing more than the world No. 1 deserved, either, as he demonstrated his fantastic all-round game and showed no mercy to the 19-year-old Kokkinakis.
The win marks his 25th on the spin while it also sees him through to Round 4 for the sixth year in a row, as Roland Garros revealed:
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It's becoming a bit of a cliche where Djokovic is concerned, but once again, he was quite simply too good.
The opening set went with serve for the first four games, but it always seemed as if the Serbian was just biding his time and waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
That moment duly arrived in Game 5, as Djokovic raced into a 40-0 lead that Kokkinakis couldn't recover from.
That was all he needed to take the opening set 6-4, and although the Australian was putting up a good fight, it just wasn't enough.
It was certainly encouraging for Kokkinakis, though, with his serves causing the world No. 1 a big problem in the opener.
However, that all went wrong in the second set, as Djokovic took a love game on the Kokkinakis serve in the very first game to seize an early advantage.
From then on, the 19-year-old never looked like breaking back, as Djokovic won 12 points in a row on his serve to win the second set 6-4.
That may seem routine, but credit has to go to Kokkinakis for the way he performed in the biggest match of his career.
Former star Darren Cahill was one of many to praise his countryman's performance, as at times he outplayed the best player in the world:
ESPN's Brad Gilbert was also impressed with the youngster but admitted that Djokovic's class just shone through:
The result was only ever going one way, though, and when Djokovic broke in the fifth game of the third set, it was game over.
The Serbian went on to win 6-4 again, and the fact that he was never a break point down in the entire match is testament to his brilliance.
Djokovic will play either Richard Gasquet or Kevin Anderson in the fourth round, and he'll undoubtedly have his work cut out more so than he did on Saturday.
Should he emerge victorious, though, it sets up the quarter-final we've all been waiting for—Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal.
Both players have looked formidable on the clay so far in the tournament, but something's got to give if they get though their last-16 ties.
Djokovic will have a task on his hands against one of Gasquet or Anderson, yet if he plays as solid as he did against Kokkinakis, we'll be sinking our teeth into a mouth-watering quarter-final match.
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