Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray teach Australian upstarts a lesson at French Open
Seasoned grand-slam champions show young upstarts it takes more than raw talent to reach last 16 at Roland Garros
Top seed Novak Djokovic and third seed Andy Murray slapped down two Australian upstarts at the French Open in impressive fashion yesterday.
Teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios are touted as the next big things and pack plenty of box-office appeal, but the gulf between brash raw talent and seasoned grand-slam champions was evident in the Paris sunshine.
Djokovic, bidding for his maiden French Open title, hurtled towards a potential quarter-final clash against defending champion Rafa Nadal with an immaculate 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Kokkinakis to reach the last 16.
I feel like I have done a good job of weathering the storms, he always has some periods in the matches where he's on fire
"Tennis needs players like Thanasi, who is a teenager, but is still able to come out on centre court and play with courage and play with power and believe in himself," said Djokovic.
"We didn't have that many young successful players under 20 in the last six, seven years, so it"s quite refreshing."
The world number one did not face a solitary break point against the 19-year-old and moved into the second week without dropping a set.
Defending champion Rafael Nadal also made it to the fourth round, with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 win over Russian world No 120 Andrey Kuznetsov. Nadal, chasing a 10th Roland Garros title, will tackle American Jack Sock for a place in the quarter-finals.
