Novak Djokovic produced an unforgettable performance, with the racket and the microphone, to wipe the smile off Richard Gasquet's face while Roger Federer continued his Bois de Boulogne stroll to reach the French Open quarter-finals on Sunday.
World number two Djokovic extended his unbeaten run to 41 matches in 2011 as the Serb smothered dejected 13th seed Gasquet, who ran out of ideas during a 6-4 6-4 6-2 tennis lesson.
Djokovic will next face Italian Fabio Fognini, who came out on top in a four-hour-22-minute, five-set battle with Spain's Albert Montanes. After Djokovic had showed off his devastating racket-wielding powers, the man known as The Joker on the tour chose to entertain the Centre Court crowd further. With the spectators appearing to misunderstand one of his routine answers, he decided to take matters into his own hands - literally - by grabbing the microphone off interviewer Cedric Pioline and quizzed the fans in French: "Eh, everybody, what happened?" Turning back to Pioline, and still in French, he continued: "Errr, what was the question, please?"
One thing Djokovic is unlikely to forget, though, is that should he beat Fognini he will equal John McEnroe's 42-0 record since the start of the year and set up a possible semi-final showdown with Federer. Federer, a 16-times grand slam champion, appeared to be floating through air in a 6-3 6-2 7-5 dismissal of fellow Swiss Wawrinka as he produced some delectable shots to draw "oohs" and "aahs" from the packed crowd.
But barely anyone noticed women's third seed Vera Zvonareva make an early exit.
Zvonareva had to play in front of rows and rows of empty seats on Court Philippe Chatrier as she was knocked out by fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 2-6 6-2 in a forgettable fourth-round contest.
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