Top seed Andy Murray eased into the last-16 of the French Open with a 7-6 (10-8) 7-5 6-0 victory over a flagging Juan Martin ddel Potro.
Murray did enough to keep his nose in front throughout, while the Argentine was unable to reprise the heroics that saw the pair produce such magic in last year’s Rio Olympics gold medal match.
While Murray won that affair too – and their only previous grand slam meeting– del Potro had triumphed in their most recent clash, so the Scot was alert to the dangers.
Del Potro, whose career has been blighted by a recurring wrist injury, needed a good start against the world No.1 but when he lost a tight first set tiebreak, the stage was set.
Losing that opener on a disputed line call cut del Potro deep.
Murray jogged to his seat at the changeover, the Argentine stood at the net, bent at the waist, his head resting on the net-cord. There he stayed until the umpire called time.
The pair traded blows in the second set with Murray creeping ahead but a monumental effort by del Potro saw him break back for 5-5, only to instantly drop serve again as Murray yanked him around the court with tight angles, drop shots and lobs.
This time Murray made no mistake and took the set with his fourth ace of the match.
Del Potro’s spirit was broken, and the vocal Paris crowd were quelled.
With some exquisite returning and acutely angled groundstrokes, Murray raced through the final set to set up a fourth-round clash with either American 21st seed John Isner or Russian Karen Khachanov.
Equally impressive was 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic, who charged into the round of 16 by dominating Spain’s Feliciano Lopez.
The Croatian whipped 31 winners past the Spaniard in a 6-1 6-3 6-3 drubbing to set up a meeting with South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.
Anderson, who conquered Australia’s Nick Kyrgios in the second round advanced to the fourth round with a five-set win over Briton Kyle Edmund.
Anderson served 24 aces in just shy of four hours as he came from two-sets-to-one down to win 6-7 (8-6) 7-6 (7-4) 5-7 6-1 6-4.
Also winning through was Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco.
The left-hander blasted 31 winners as he took just 93 minutes to dismiss Uruguayan 22nd seed Pablo Cuevas 6-2 6-2 6-3 and book a likely showdown with Japanese star Kei Nishikori.