Novak Djokovic continued his bid to become the first man in the professional era to twice hold all four majors by flying through
Thursday 30 May 2019 19:25, UK
Kyle Edmund was forced to retire from his second-round match at the French Open against Pablo Cuevas, leaving Johanna Konta as the last Briton in the singles draw.
The British No 1 has endured a torrid few months with injury and illness and his first-round epic lasting two days against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy appeared to take its toll on Thursday.
It was a curiously passive performance from Edmund as he lost the opening two sets and, after going 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 2-1 down, he called the doctor.
It was not immediately obvious what was wrong but, after a lengthy chat, Edmund shook his head and then the hand of Cuevas.
Edmund had been looking to reach round three for the third year in a row, but he was up against Cuevas, ranked 47, who is a classic clay-court specialist and has had a lot of match wins on the surface this season, including reaching the final of the ATP Tour event in Estoril last month.
The 24-year-old began poorly, dropping serve in the second game, but retrieved the break to level at 4-4 and withstood pressure from Cuevas to force a tie-break.
He had played a fine tie-break in his opening match against Chardy but this one was a different story, and things did not improve in the second set, where he lost the last four games.
It was not obvious that Edmund, who struggled with a knee injury for the first two months of the season, was having physical difficulties but it was clear he was frustrated, the Briton slamming a ball down and shouting at himself
after being broken in the seventh game of the second set.
Whatever the problem, it was clearly serious enough for Edmund to feel he could not continue, and Cuevas recorded the win to set up a meeting with Dominic Thiem.
The Austrian fourth seed defeated Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 7-5.
Thiem is seen as one of the only men who could challenge Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, but he has been made to work very hard through his first two rounds.
After being taken to four sets by Tommy Paul in round one, the Austrian trailed Bublik by a break in the fourth set but finished strongly.
Novak Djokovic had no problems brushing aside Swiss lucky loser Henri Laaksonen 6-1 6-4 6-3.
It appeared the match might not even be that close when Djokovic allowed his opponent just five points in the first five games but Laaksonen did at least dig in to make it somewhat competitive.
In the next round he will face Italian qualifier Salvatore Caruso, who surprisingly beat 26th seed Gilles Simon for the loss of just seven games.
Eighth seed Juan Martin Del Potro was given a real examination by Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka but came through 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 after three hours and 46 minutes.
Del Potro, who has twice reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros including last year, punched the air in delight after his hard-fought victory.
He next faces Australian Jordan Thompson, who beat 40-year-old Croat Ivo Karlovic - the oldest man to win a match at the French Open for 46 years when he made the second round on Wednesday.
Home favourite Gael Monfils beat fellow Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-3 6-4 6-4 and will take on another compatriot next in wildcard Antoine Hoang, who upset 23rd seed Fernando Verdasco to reach the third round at his first grand slam.
Last year's quarter-finalist Diego Schwartzman was another seed to fall, the Argentinian losing in four sets to countryman Leonardo Mayer.
After surrendering a two-set lead against Australian John Millman in his opening match, Alexander Zverev avoided any extra legwork this time. The fifth seed outplayed Swede Mikael Ymer 6-1 6-3 7-6 (7-3).
We have the 2019 French Open covered from all angles via our website skysports.com/tennis. On the move? Head to our app for mobile devices and iPad, or follow our Twitter account @SkySportsTennis to join in the conversation.
