Nadal, Djokovic reach milestones, advance in French Open

PARIS – Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic each created personal history at the French Open, setting records with straight-set victories Thursday that took them into the third round.

Nadal won his 200th Grand Slam match with a 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 defeat of Argentine Facundo Bagnis, while top seed Djokovic won his 50th Roland Garros contest, beating Belgian Steve Darcis 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.

Djokovic also joined Roger Federer and Serena Williams as the only players to have won at least 50 matches at each of the four majors since Open tennis began almost 40 years ago.

"I'm pleased to get the job done in three sets, but there were things that I definitely didn't like in my game [Thursday]," Djokovic said.

"I had too many unforced errors from the first or second shot in the rally.

"I felt great, and then all of a sudden, with some unforced errors, I allowed him to come back into the match. In all three sets, when I was a break up, I allowed Steve to come back to those sets and fight.

"Hopefully that's not going to happen in the following rounds. The matches will get tougher. It's almost expected at the beginning that you are a bit rusty on the court — hopefully things will get better."

Nadal is only the eighth man in history to crack the 200-win barrier, with Roger Federer leading that category with 302.

"I even didn't know, but for me, most important thing is a victory," he said. "The 200 victories? That's only another number, and that's it."

In the women's draw, top seed Serena Williams put on a ruthless display, hammering Brazil's Telania Pereira 6-2, 6-1 in 66 minutes, ending with 31 winners.

The 2015 semifinalist and eighth seed Timea Bacsinszky admitted she briefly lost her way on the jumbo-sized Chatrier court but rallied to defeat Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 6-4.

"I couldn't get my bearings on a big court, there is a lot of space around the edge," Bacsinszky said.