Paris (EFE) the feminine that of the American Jessica Pegula.
The first four round of 16 games were set up, with some exceptional guests such as the Italian Lorenzo Sonego, the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas or the Austrian Sebastian Ofner, coming from the previous phase.
But in that upper part the spotlights are focused on Alcaraz and Djokovic, who settled their duels in three sets, the number 1 in the world more comfortable against the Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the number 3 against the Spanish Alejandro Davidovich more aggressive.
Alcaraz solved a small bump in the second set and gave an account of a tennis player who three years ago was among the 10 best in the world, but whose injuries and his mentality kept him from the top positions to which he is trying to return.
The Spaniard reaches the round of 16 in Paris for the second consecutive time and now challenges the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, 17th seed, another representative of his generation who reached the round of 16 for the second time in his career after defeating the British Cameron Norrie (14) by 6 -1, 6-2 and 6-4.
It will be a reissue of the final in Hamburg last year that ended with a victory for the transalpine in three sets.
Djokovic had more difficulties against a Davidovich who had opportunities to win the first two sets, but ended up losing them in the tiebreaker game, 7-6(4), 7-6(5) and 6-2.
The Serbian, who is looking for his third crown in Paris and the 23rd Grand Slam, to overcome Nadal, had to battle for more than two hours, despite his confessed plan to save strength at 36 years of age.
His rival will be the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas, 94th in the ranking and one of the surprises, who in a new five-set duel got rid of the Polish Hubert Hurkacz, 13th favorite, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3 ) and 6-2.
The first Peruvian among the top 16 at Roland Garros in 29 years seems like a rival within reach of the Serbian, because until now he had not won any Grand Slam tournament.
The other surprise of the day was given by Sonego, who came back from two sets behind Rublev, 5-7, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) and 6-3, to play the second eighth of his career and get his first win against a top-20.
They will face Russian Karen Khachanov, eleventh seed, who will play the round of 16 in Paris for the sixth time after defeating Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5).
But the most unexpected in this phase of the competition is the Austrian Sebastian Ofner, coming from the previous phase, who until now had not won a Grand Slam match and who beat the Italian Fabio Fognini, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6 and 6-4.
His rival will be the Greek Stefanos Tsitipas, 2021 finalist and fifth favorite, who easily beat Argentine Diego Schwartzman, 6-2, 6-2 and 6-3.
Sabalenka without problems and defeat of Pegula
In the women’s draw, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka advanced without problems, who defeated the Russian Kamilla Rakhinova, 82 in the world, 6-2 and 6-2 in her tenth consecutive victory in Grand Slam, after having won the Australian Open.
The world number 2, who dodged the press to avoid talking about the war in Ukraine, will face the American Sloane Stephens, who for the fifth time in the last six years surpassed the first week in Paris after beating the Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, 6-3, 3-6 and 6-2.
The surprise was the defeat of Pegula, third favorite, against the Belgian Elise Mertens, favorite 28, who will be measured for a place in the quarterfinals against the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, finalist in 2021 but current 333rd in the ranking, who defeated her compatriot Anastasia Potapova , favorite 24, 4-6, 6-3 and 6-0.
The Russian Elina Avanesyan, picked up from the previous phase, got into the top 16 after defeating the Danish Clara Tauson, also from the qualifiers, 3-6, 6-1 and 7-5.
The 20-year-old player, based in Valencia and trained by María José Llorca, who had never won a Grand Slam match before, will face the Czech Karolina Muchova, who beat the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3 and 6-2.
The Ukrainian Elina Svitolina returned to the round of 16 at Roland Garros three years after her last appearance in that round and eight months after giving birth to a son, after defeating the Russian Anna Blikova, ranked 56, 1- 6, 6-2 and 7-5, which also assures him to enter the top-100 again.
Her next rival will be the Russian Daria Kasatkina, ninth favorite, who defeated the American Peyton Steams, 6-0 and 6-1.
By Luis Miguel Pascual