Novak Djokovic feels the heat as he progresses in French Open with straight sets win over Italy’s Salvatore Caruso

NOVAK Djokovic feels the heat in Paris as he continues his quest for a calendar Grand Slam.

The world No1 struggled on the hottest day of the French Open as he beat Italian Salvatore Caruso 6-3 6-3 6-2 in the third round on Court Philippe Chatrier.

The Serb did not look himself or play to his usually high standards even though he is in the last 16 without dropping a set so far this week.

After just seven games, he went off court for a toilet break - unusual to happen at such an early juncture of the match - and commentators noticed he was not exactly firing on all cylinders.

It was a sweaty day at the Championships with the temperature reaching 29 degrees and it was evident, despite the straight-sets score line, that the 32-year-old was not hitting his usual high notes.

Djokovic  said: "The conditions today were too hot. It was different from all the other days. It was a bit different physically but at the end I think I found my best game in the second part of the match.  It was a challenging match."
Djokovic is the holder of the singles titles at Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open and is aiming to complete the 'Novak Slam' for the second time in his career.

More pertinently if he wins the French Open a week on Sunday for a second time then he will remain on course to win all the Slams in the same year.

The last man to do that was the Australian great Rod Laver in 1962 and 1969.

Djokovic maintained his unbeaten record against qualifiers at Grand Slam level – 19 matches played, now 19 matches won.

The 32-year-old will now face either Croatian No.13 seed Borna Coric or German Jan-Lennard Struff in the last 16.

In contrast it was a different result for the women's world No.1 as Japan's Naomi Osaka was beaten Katerina Siniakova 6-4 6-2 in an hour and 17 minutes.

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