The twice Roland Garros champion could not find a weakness in the 11th-seeded Khachanov's serve at first, but once he took the second set tiebreak there was no looking back for the Serbian.
Djokovic, however, was not completely happy with his performance but knew victory would not come easy.
He has a big serve but maybe doesn't move as well so I tried to expose him and played unpredictable.
There were no break points in the second set but Khachanov started to struggle and paid for his efforts, failing to score a point in the tiebreak as Djokovic levelled the contest.
Djokovic got the early break thanks to a netcord in the third and stole Khachanov's serve again to move one set from victory with apparent ease.
Persons:
Novak Djokovic, Karen Khachanov, Roland Garros, Carlos Alcaraz, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Philippe Chatrier, Djokovic, Khachanov, Khachanov's, Julien Pretot, Ken Ferris, Toby Davis
Organizations:
Serbian, Thomson
Locations:
Russian, Serbian