Story so far: Frenchmen shine

Monfils breezes into third round and will meet compatriot Hoang, who stuns Verdasco.

Gael Monfils©Julien Crosnier / FFT
 - rolandgarros.com

Gael Monfils has kept up his comfortable progress at Roland-Garros, seeing off fellow Frenchman Adrian Mannarino to reach the third round.

The 14th seed won 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and has not dropped a set en route to the last 32, where he will meet another Frenchman in Antoine Hoang.

The local wildcard stunned 23rd seed Fernando Verdasco in four sets to continue his dream run in Paris, in what is his first appearance in a Grand Slam main draw.

Lucas Pouille is hoping to become another Frenchman to join them in the third round, yet home hope Caroline Garcia cannot say the same; leading 3-0 in the third set on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the 24th seed crashed out 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Russian qualifier Anna Blinkova.

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Earlier in the day on the same court, Serena Williams kicked her campaign into another gear by dropping just five games against Kurumi Nara. The three-time champion in Paris next takes on Sofia Kenin.

Williams was not the only big name to advance; on Court-Suzanne Lenglen, top seed Novak Djokovic brushed aside Swiss Henri Laaksonen for the loss of just eight games. Italian qualifier Salvatore Caruso awaits.

Fifth seed Alexander Zverev was another winner, after the German saw off the challenge of Swedish qualifier Mikael Ymer 6-1, 6-3, 7-6(3).

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Elsewhere, 2014 semi-finalist Andrea Petkovic turned back the clock to oust No.25 seed Hsieh Su-Wei.

The former top-10 star, now ranked 69th, recovered to win 4-6, 6-3, 8-6 and will next meet eighth seed Ashleigh Barty, who earlier in the day ousted Danielle Collins in straight sets.

Also advancing to the third round were Rio 2016 Olympic champion Monica Puig - a straight-sets winner over No.21 seed Daria Kasatkina - and Irina-Camelia Begu, who beat Karolina Muchova to set up a meeting with Amanda Anisimova.

In other men's results, No.30 seed Dusan Lajovic ended the run of French qualifier Elliot Benchetrit, Jan-Lennard Struff stopped Radu Albot and Australia's Jordan Thompson scored revenge over Ivo Karlovic to reach the third round of a major for the first time.

In 2016, Karlovic beat Thompson 12-10 in the fifth set of their second-round match in Paris.