There was nonetheless no shortage of drama as Djokovic, the third seed, kept his quest for a record 23rd grand slam title on track at Roland Garros with a 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Having stirred controversy earlier in the week by scrawling a political message on a TV camera lens, and then quipped that he was “trying to impersonate Iron Man” after cameras picked up a nanotechnology patch fixed to his chest during his win over Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, Djokovic offered a reminder here that he is indeed made of tough stuff. 

Davidovich Fokina, seeded 29th and 13 years Djokovic’s junior, defeated the Serb in their only previous meeting, last year in Monte Carlo, and once again he subjected the world No 3 to the sternest of examinations. Djokovic spent much of the match digging balls out of either corner as the flamboyant Spaniard unleashed a relentless baseline barrage, interspersing his assault with moonballs, lobs and some exquisite drop shots. 

Davidovich Fokina, a quarter-finalist at Roland Garros two years ago, served for the first set and had a set point in the second. Had he made good on the latter opportunity, the battle would probably have raged well into the evening. But Djokovic is rarely found wanting at the big moments, and he stepped up to win a controlled and obdurate 18-stroke rally that left Davidovich Fokina exhausted and hunched over on the baseline, gasping for air. 

Djokovic being Djokovic, the drama did not there.

With the ensuing tiebreak won, the two-time champion celebrated wildly, raising hackles in the stands with a fist-punching 360-degree twirl. A chorus of boos rang out, and there were further jeers when Djokovic subsequently took a medical timeout for treatment on his left leg. It was a bizarre moment: Davidovich Fokina had left the court for a bathroom break, so the Serb was not delaying the resumption of play. But the Parisian crowd, which derided Taylor Fritz long and loud after his victory over the Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech the previous evening, famously marches to the beat of its own drum.

“They are people, they’re groups or whatever, that love to boo every single thing you do,” said Djokovic. “That’s something that I find disrespectful and I frankly don’t understand that. 

“But it’s their right. They paid the ticket. They can do whatever they want. At times I will stay quiet. Not at times, actually, 99% of the time I will stay quiet. Sometimes I will oppose that, because I feel when somebody is disrespectful, you know, he or she deserves to have an answer to that.”

Asked whether the treatment he received was for a specific injury, Djokovic declined to elaborate. He did, however, offer a candid insight into his physical state at this stage of his career.

“We don’t have much time to start to name the many injuries I have, and the list is quite long,” said Djokovic. “I don’t want to sit here and talk about these things that are not preventing me from playing.

“These are the circumstances that you, as a professional athlete, have to deal with. Accept it. Sometimes you need help from the physio during the match. Sometimes you need pills. Sometimes you need help from the god or angels, sometimes you just have to deal with the reality.”

With a two-set lead established in gruelling fashion, Djokovic moved through the gears relatively swiftly in the third, breaking twice without reply to seal victory. It was nonetheless the longest three-set match of his career at a major, eclipsing his defeat to Korea’s Hyeon Chung at the 2018 Australian Open by 15 minutes. Despite his chequered build-up to Roland Garros, which included an elbow injury and defeats to Lorenzo Musetti in Monte Carlo, fellow Serb Dusan Lajovic in Banja Luka, and Holger Rune in Rome, Djokovic has yet to drop a set. Nor can he complain that he has not had the chance to play himself into form. 

“I don’t remember when I played last time three hours, two sets,” said Djokovic. “If I lost one of the first two sets, it was looking like it was going to go four, five hours.

“It was a day and conditions that were, I think, very challenging for both players physically. Lots of exchanges. Serve was really not an advantage for either of us. It was cat and mouse every single point, trying to outsmart your opponent. 

“We were doing a lot of running. Not just left, right, but forward and backward, especially when he was playing from that end where he was playing against the wind, he was drop-shotting a lot. He was making me work for every point. 

“I just have to be, in the end of the day when I draw a line, very content to win this match in three sets.”

There was no such comfort for Andrey Rublev, who let a two-set lead slip as he was undone by Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Sonego, into the fourth round of a major for the first time, will face Karen Khachanov next after the Russian 11th seed prevailed 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) against Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis on Court Simonne Mathieu.

“I played, I think, my best tennis this year,” said Sonego, the world No 48. “There were a lot of things in my mind, but I tried to stay focused every point and enjoy the moment.

“Obviously a big emotional moment for me and for my team, for my family.”

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For all his gripes about the red dirt, it is a record that would be the envy of many. The 27-year-old marked his return to Monaco by adding another feather to his clay-court cap in the shape of a dominant 6-3, 6-2 victory over Lorenzo Sonego, an Italian ranked 45th. 

Sonego, who saved four match points against the French qualifier Ugo Humbert in the previous round, regards the terre battue as his best surface, an assessment that a title win in Cagliari and a Rome Masters semi-final would seem to endorse. But neither his clay-court pedigree nor the vocal backing of a sizeable Italian contingent, a staple at a venue that lies barely five miles from Italy’s western border, were sufficient to prevent Medvedev from claiming a tour-leading 30th win of the season. Not that the former US Open champion was getting carried away. 

“On clay it’s much more difficult for me to feel the game,” said Medvedev, who set the tone for a comfortable afternoon by reeling off the first three games of the contest. 

“After the match, it’s difficult for me to say if I played well or not, but I was told I played well, and the score was OK with me. I felt in control during the match. I’m very happy.”

To suggest that Medvedev is warming to a surface he once called “the worst in the world” would be an overstatement, however.

“I don’t like clay, and even if I win matches, I prefer hard courts,” he said. “But I will do everything to win all the matches.”

Medvedev will need to, given that Alexander Zverev awaits in the next round. The German Olympic champion, seeded 13th and twice a semi-finalist in Monte Carlo, defeated Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 6-4. Medvedev has won seven of their 13 meetings, but the pair have never previously met on clay, where Zverev, a semi-finalist at Roland Garros for the past two seasons and former title winner in Madrid and Rome, is by far the more comfortable of the two.

“I remember once I beat him in a final on clay in juniors,” smiled Medvedev. “But it’s going to be a different story [this time]. I saw him in the first two matches, he seemed to be in good shape. So I’m just going to have to be at my best.”

He was not far from his best at times against Sonego, anticipating brilliantly at the net to set up an early break, imposing his authority in the baseline exchanges, and winning 90% of his first-serve points. For all the power and deftness of Sonego’s shot-making, particularly off the forehand side, the Italian’s finest moments came when he was chasing lost causes. He came through an attritional service game to get on the scoreboard for the first time at 1-3, fended off two set points as he served to stay in the first set at 2-5, and fended off a match point in the penultimate game. 

But for all Medvedev’s consternation about a surface that forces him to make adjustments to a game that has earned him titles on the hard courts of Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai and Miami this season, Sonego’s rearguard actions were never enough to impede the Russian’s progress for long.

Taylor Fritz, the American eighth seed, earlier defeated former French Open champion Stan Wawrinka 7-6 (12-10), 6-2 to set up a last-16 meeting with Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, who saw off Grigor Dimitrov 7-6, (7-4) 6-4. 

Lorenzo Musetti won his third consecutive 6-0 set at the event with a whitewash win over fellow Italian Luca Nardi. Musetti will face Novak Djokovic, who won his opener against Russian qualifier Ivan Gakhov in straight sets on Tuesday, for a place in the last eight. Djokovic traditionally takes time to hit his stride at the start of the clay-court season, but Musetti dismissed any suggestion that the top seed might be vulnerable.

“He’s still No 1 in the world,” said the Italian, who famously held a two-set lead against Djokovic at the French Open two years ago. “He’s still Novak. So I have to be ready to beat the No 1 in the world, not a guy who needs to prepare the clay season.  

“I have to enter the court with the right mentality, with the right mindset to beat the No. 1 in the world, not to beat someone who is preparing for the clay season.” 

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From Nick Kyrgios, a typically conceited exhibition of feather-ruffling and bad language that was only partially tempered by the frequent brilliance of his play. From the hapless Stefanos Tsitsipas, driven to distraction by the Australian’s antics, a thoroughly unprofessional meltdown.

Welcome to the madhouse that was the dying embers of middle Saturday at Wimbledon.

You know things are bad when Nadal, one of the game’s most respectful and sportsmanlike players, gets caught up in the maelstrom. For two and a half sets, the former champion played his most accomplished tennis of the tournament. Sonego must have had an inkling of what was coming when the Spaniard launched a backhand of withering power and accuracy beyond him with the contest just a couple of points old. Here was Nadal at his princely best, dominant from the baseline, decisive at the net, and serving with such ruthless authority that the Italian garnered just eight points in two sets from his return games.

But just as Nadal’s four-set struggles against Francisco Cerundolo and Ricardas Berankis were beginning to feel like a distant memory, the atmosphere began to sour. 

Trailing by two sets to love, Sonego, the 27th seed, suggested to the chair umpire that the light was fading on Centre Court. It was a view that Nadal, doubtless eager to return to the sanctuary of the locker room, did not appear to share. Nonetheless, shortly before 8.30pm, and with the Spaniard a break up at 4-2, just two games from victory, Sonego got his wish. The lights came on, the roof was closed, and on the resumption of play Sonego held and then broke to love – although only after twice emitting a loud grunt well after the ball had left his racket, just as Nadal was lining up his reply.

If Sonego was attempting to distract Nadal, as it certainly appeared, the strategy worked more effectively than he could possibly have imagined. His annoyance plain, the 36-year-old voiced his feelings to the chair umpire before taking matters into his own hands by summoning Sonego to the net. It was an unusual breach of protocol – players rarely engage directly in the heat of battle – and Sonego, perhaps somewhat disingenuously, looked nonplussed. 

Nadal broke back before serving out for a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory, but the debate continued at the net. Nadal’s body language was conciliatory – and there had been nothing obviously untoward in his manner when he initially spoke to Sonego – but the Italian was clearly having none of it, prompting Nadal to gesture that they should continue the conversation in the locker room. He was swift to offer a public apology in his on-court interview. 

“From the bottom of my heart I didn’t make it in a negative way, I feel very sorry if I bothered him,” said Nadal. “I just wanted to tell him something, but I did it in a nice way and now I feel really bad if I really bothered him.”

Nadal later doubled down on his contrition. 

“I have to say that I was wrong,” he said in press. “Probably I should not call him to the net. So [I] apologise for that. My mistake. No problem on recognising that.

“My intention was never to bother him at all, just to tell him one thing that was bothering me that I think he was doing in that moment, but that’s it.

“There are some codes between players. We had some issues there.”

Sonego remained unamused, however, insisting Nadal should not have called him to the net.

“You cannot do that at Wimbledon,” said the 27-year-old. “Nadal should just have had a word with the umpire. He distracted me.”

Compared with what was happening on Court 1, it was a storm in a teacup. Kyrgios dropped the opening set on a tiebreak, but not before he had got under Tsitsipas’s skin with a trademark underarm serve. The Greek fourth seed missed his return, and was later forced to watch on as Kyrgios launched a foul-mouthed tirade at chair umpire Damien Dumusois over a disputed line call. 

Kyrgios’s complaints continued into the second set, which the Australian won to pull level, prompting Tsitsipas to swat a ball into the crowd. Tsitsipas was fortunate that the ball did not hit anyone, but Kyrgios complained loudly and at length that his opponent should be defaulted, branding Dumusois “dumb” and a “disgrace” as he likened the incident to the one that saw Novak Djokovic defaulted from the US Open two years ago for accidentally hitting a lineswoman with a ball. 

“You can’t hit a ball into the crowd and hit someone and not get defaulted,” raged Kyrgios.

Code violations followed for both players, and when Kyrgios hit another underarm serve in the fifth game of set three, Tsitsipas completely lost it, deliberately smacking the ball out of court. Again, he was lucky not to strike anyone in the crowd. He received a second code violation, resulting in a docked point, and afterwards went into meltdown, arguing with Dumusois before aiming bodyline shots at Kyrgios.

The Australian went on to win 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7), before the drama continued in the interview room, where Tsitsipas took aim at “the constant talking, the constant complaining” as he branded his rival a bully with an “evil side”.

“The circus show going on, on the other side of the net, starts to become tiring,” said Tsitsipas, who apologised for hitting the ball into the crowd but said “there was something that created that behaviour”.

“Every single point that I played today, I feel like there was something going on.

“It’s constant bullying, that’s what he does,” added Tsitsipas. “He bullies the opponents. He was probably a bully at school himself. I don’t like bullies. I don’t like people that put other people down. He has some good traits in his character, as well. But he also has a very evil side to him which, if it’s exposed, can really do a lot of harm and bad to the people around him.” 

Kyrgios, who beat Tsitsipas in Halle before Wimbledon, and spoke with warmth of the Greek in his on-court interview, dismissed the accusations as sour grapes.

“I’m not sure how I bullied him,” said Kyrgios. “He was the one hitting balls at me, he was the one who hit a spectator, he was the one that smacked it out of the stadium, I didn’t do anything. 

“Apart from me just going back and forth to the umpire for a bit, I did nothing towards Stefanos that was disrespectful, I don’t think. I was not drilling him with balls.

“I’d be pretty upset if I lost to someone two weeks in a row as well. Maybe he should figure out how to beat me.”

It was an unsavoury conclusion to a day that began with Harmony Tan, the Frenchwoman who defeated Serena Williams, ending the run of Britain’s Katie Boulter in summary fashion, 6-1, 6-1, out on Court 2. 

Coco Gauff, the 11th-seeded American who reached the French Open final earlier this month, was later ousted by her compatriot Amanda Anisimova, the 20th seed, who overcame the loss of a nip-and-tuck opening set to advance 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-1. 

Paula Badosa, the fourth seed, defeated two-time champion Petra Kvitova 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), and will now face another former winner in Simona Halep, the 16th seed, who came through 6-4, 6-1 against Poland’s Magdalena Frech.

Yet it was to be a day when only the shock defeat of top seed Iga Swiatek, whose 37-match winning streak was ended by Alizé Cornet, overshadowed the flurry of late controversy.

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