Russian second seed Daniil Medvedev and German sixth seed Alexander Zverev both recorded routine straight-set victories to reach the French Open fourth round.
Zverev beat Serbia’s Laslo Djere 6-2 7-5 6-2, while Medvedev defeated American Reilly Opelka 6-4 6-2 6-4.
Medvedev, 25, will meet Cristian Garin in the last 16 after the Chilean beat American Marcos Giron in four sets.
Zverev, meanwhile, will face Japan’s Kei Nishikori, who is unseeded, in the fourth round.
Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and 13-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal, who faces Britain’s Cameron Norrie, are all in third-round action on Saturday.
Medvedev makes second week for first time
Before this week, Medvedev had failed to win a singles match at Roland Garros, falling to first-round exits in each of his previous four visits, but has dropped just one set on his way to the second week.
The 2021 Australian Open runner-up was broken early on by the giant Opelka, who is 6ft 11in, but recovered to win the opening set and did not have to face another break point in the match.
With no French players in the third round for the first time in the Open era, Medvedev, who speaks French and lived in the country as a youngster, received generous support from the home crowd.
“I’m playing some great tennis. I want to maintain my level and win more matches,” said Medvedev, who, in the favourable bottom half of the draw, will avoid Federer, Nadal and Djokovic until at least the final.
By contrast to Medvedev’s poor past record in Paris, Zverev, the 2020 US Open finalist, has reached the quarter-finals twice at Roland Garros, in 2018 and 2019.
His opponent Djere served for the second set three times at 5-3 before being broken as Zverev won seven games in a row to take the second set and break immediately at the start of the third.
“Obviously this is the main goal of my tennis career, to win Grand Slams, reach the top of the rankings,” Zverev said. “I feel the last year and a half I’m going the right way.”
Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta was another straight-set victory, beating American Steve Johnson 6-4 6-4 6-2, and he will next face the winner of Friday’s night game between Stefanos Tsitsipas and John Isner.
