French Open 2017: Novak Djokovic Thriller Highlights Friday Roland Garros Play

Novak Djokovic narrowly avoided a major upset at the hands of Diego Schwartzman during Friday's 2017 French Open action, while Rafael Nadal put together his best performance of the tournament so far.

The Spaniard barely wasted energy in a three-set win over Nikoloz Basilashvili, losing just a single game in the process. Djokovic had to dig a lot deeper, coming back from a 2-1 deficit in sets to win in five.

Elsewhere, defending women's champion Garbine Muguruza beat Yulia Putintseva in two sets, and David Goffin was forced to retire against Horacio Zeballos with an ankle injury. For full results, visit Tennis.com.

Recap

Djokovic had to dig deep to get past Schwartzman, who seemed to be on the verge of a major upset after three sets before he lost control of his serve.

The Djoker hadn't really been challenged yet in the tournament, but that changed on Friday. And Schwartzman wasn't the only one pushing him to the limit―as shared by Eurosport UK, the umpire wasn't helpful, doling out ridiculous punishments:

But Djokovic didn't become one of the best players in the world by accident, and with his back against the wall, the Serb improved his level of play tremendously to book his spot in the next round.

He's far from the favourite in the men's draw, however, as Nadal appears to be peaking at just the right time.

BBC 5 Live's David Law said what many were thinking after Friday's masterclass:

Basilashvili isn't exactly a top contender―he's never made it past the third round of a Grand Slam in his career―but he's a professional tennis player who was almost made to look silly. Nadal won't play like this every day, but his form right now is scary.

Belgium's Goffin, an outside contender for the title, suffered an unfortunate injury to his ankle in the first set against Zeballos.

As shared by sports writer Nick McCarvel, his tournament is over, with Zeballos showing tremendous sportsmanship:

In the women's draw, Muguruza overcame a few sloppy mistakes in the first set to get past Putintseva, and Samantha Stosur put together an excellent outing to beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands.