French Open: Federer battles past Cilic into third round

Twenty-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer has booked a spot into the third round at Roland Garros after battling past Marin Cilic of Croatia.

The 39-year-old Swiss brushed Cilic aside 6-2 in a one-sided first set, but faced a bigger challenge in the second, surrendering it 2-6.

The third set produced some high-octane tennis with eighth-seed Federer taking the tiebreak 7-4.

This time, Federer did not allow a sniff of a comeback and closed out the match in clinical fashion 6-2 in the fourth set.

He will now face Germany's 59th-ranked Dominik Koepfer in the next round.

Meanwhile, world number one Novak Djokovic reached the third round of the French Open for the 16th year in a row with a straight-sets win over Pablo Cuevas.

The 92nd-ranked Uruguayan showed flashes of resistance against the 34-year-old Serbian, but ultimately failed to stop Djokovic’s 6-3, 6-2, and 6-4 stroll into the next round.

Top seed Djokovic will next face Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis.

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