Nishikori brushes aside Simon to reach last 16

Paris - Japan's Kei Nishikori made short work of home hope Gilles Simon as he cruised into the French Open fourth round for the fifth time on Friday.

The 28-year-old, seeded 19 in his first Grand Slam since Wimbledon last year after struggling with injury, saw off Simon 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.

Nishikori could next face a clash with two-time semi-finalist and seventh seed Dominic Thiem, who plays Italian Matteo Berrettini later in the third round.

Results from day six of the French Open at Roland Garros on Friday (x denotes seeding):

Men

3rd rd

Fernando Verdasco (ESP x30) bt Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x4) 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-4

Kei Nishikori (JPN x19) bt Gilles Simon (FRA) 6-3, 6-1, 6-3

Alexander Zverev (GER x2) bt Damir Dzumhur (BIH x26) 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5

Women

3rd rd

Barbora Strycova (CZE x26) bt Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 6-2, 6-3

Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) bt Qiang Wang (CHN) 1-6, 7-5, 6-4

Madison Keys (USA x13) bt Naomi Osaka (JPN x21) 6-1, 7-6 (9/7)

Daria Kasatkina (RUS x14) bt Maria Sakkari (GRE) 6-1, 1-6, 6-3