Story of the match

The shackles were off following Djokovic’s drought-breaking 100th career singles title in Geneva leading in and it was one less concern as he maintained focus on his 21st Paris campaign.

The 38-year-old breezed past Mackenzie McDonald ahead of his third meeting with Moutet, who as history shows had a momentous task on his plate.

The 73rd-ranked Frenchman had never taken a set off his heavily fancied foe and was aiming to become the first player to deny Djokovic before the quarter-finals in Paris since Philipp Kohlschreiber in 2009 and the first since Denis Istomin at Australian Open 2017 to humble him in the second round at any Slam.

Moutet last year matched his deepest run at a major with a fourth-round finish on home soil and looked immediately up for the fight with the Suzanne-Lenglen crowd egging him on.

A break from the off gave him a spring in his step but in no way set the tone of the opening set as Djokovic quickly kicked into gear and rolled through it in 43 minutes.

The Frenchman survived a 12-minute struggle on serve to open the second set, an indication of just how hard he had to labour to keep himself in with a chance.

A moment of Moutet magic – a set-point saving tweener half-volley winner – drew a wide grin of approval from his opponent but only delayed the inevitable as Djokovic surged to a two-set lead.

On serve at 2-3 in the third, Djokovic received treatment on his left big toe for a blister after he pulled up gingerly on the run. He was broken for the first time upon the resumption before he settled in again and levelled.

He was not out of the woods yet as he faced a set point on serve at 5-6 before he reeled off nine of the last 10 points for a clash against Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic.