It was twin delight in every respect for podium-chasing Novak Djokovic as the world No. 1 sealed commanding victories in both the men’s singles and mixed doubles on day five of the Olympic Tennis Event in Tokyo.

Djokovic overpowered Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 6-3 6-1 to take his place in the quarter-finals of the singles before teaming up with Nina Stojanovic as the Serbian duo defeated Brazilians Luisa Stefani and Marcelo Melo 6-3 6-4.

In the singles, the 34-year-old, who claimed bronze in Beijing in 2008, will now face Japan’s Kei Nishikori for a place in the last four after the home favourite defeated Ilya Ivashka of Belarus in straight sets, winning 7-6(7) 6-0.

Victory over Davidovich Fokina also ensured that Djokovic's bid to land the calendar Golden Slam remains on course and he insists he has no intention of buckling under the scrunity or weight of expectation.

“Pressure is a privilege. Without pressure, there is no professional sport,” said Djokovic. “If you are aiming to be at the top of the game, you better start learning how to deal with pressure and how to cope with those moments on the court, but also off the court.

“All that buzz and all that noise is something that I can't say I don't see it, or I don't hear it, of course it's there. But I've learned, I've developed the mechanism on how to deal with it in such a way that it will not pose a distraction to me.

"It will not wear me down. I feel I have enough experience to know myself how to step on the court and play my best tennis.”

Djokovic and Stojanovic, meanwhile, will now draw swords with Germany’s Kevin Krawietz and Laura Siegemund in the mixed doubles quarters following their victory over reigning champion Bethanie Mattek-Sands and her partner Rajeev Ram of the United States. For Djokovic, his on-court chemistry with Stojanovic proved extremely promising.

“I don't think I've ever played [mixed doubles] in an official tournament,” added Djokovic. “Definitely, it's the first time in the Olympic Games, so it was fun.

“We did not chat about the tactics too much. We know each other, but we've never really played in the opposite ends of the net, or the same side of the net, so it was amazing how well we clicked from the beginning.”

Elsewhere in the men’s singles, there were victories for seeded players Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Pablo Carreno Busta and Karen Khachanov, while France’s Jeremy Chardy also advanced.

It was the end of the road, however, for Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, who suffered a shock defeat to Ugo Humbert as he recovered from a set down to triumph 2-6 7-6(4) 6-2. Incidentally, France have now had a men’s singles quarter-finalist at each of the past six Olympics dating back to Sydney in 2000.

The mixed doubles provided a degree of consolation and solace for Tsitsipas and indeed his partner Maria Sakkari, who bowed out of the women’s singles at the hands of Elina Svitolina on Tuesday.

Reprising their 2019 Hopman Cup partnership, Sakkari and Tsitsipas – the No. 2 seeds here – began their quest for mixed doubles glory by dispatching Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3 6-4.

“I think it was painful for both of us to lose in singles,” said Sakkari. “It was tough for me yesterday, tough for Stefanos today, but we gave ourselves a big smile at the end of the day. I think we deserve it and we are very happy to still be in the tournament.”

Tsitsipas often speaks of his pride at representing and achieving on behalf of Greece. Earlier this week, for instance, he became the first Greek man to win an Olympic singles match since Augustos Zerlandis at the Paris Games in 1924. He was eager beat the drum for his nation once more.

“We are both very honoured to play for our country,” he said. “If [a medal] comes, then it’s a great day to remember. But so far, every single match that we get to play here, we are walking proud with the flag beside us.

“It’s something that we share a lot of pride in, and we have a lot in common as well. We are fighting, we are both very pumped at having this opportunity to be here and obviously we want to get the best out of it.”

Sakkari and Tsitsipas will now face Ashleigh Barty and John Peers for a place in the semi-finals after the Australian pair defeated Nadia Podoroska and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-1 7-6(3).

For Barty, who is out of the women’s singles and earlier in the day suffered defeat in the women’s doubles alongside Storm Sanders, the mixed doubles draw provides the sole opportunity for her to medal on her Olympic debut.

“We’re here to fight for medals for Australia,” she said. “This morning was disappointing not to be able to get through that doubles match, but it was nice tonight to get a win on the board. We’re still in the hunt for a medal for Australia.”

Barty and Peers go way back, with the two-time Grand Slam singles champion staying with her partner’s family during her comeback to tennis in 2016 following a spell with Brisbane Heat in the Women’s Big Bash League.

“I’m excited to play with John, we played years and years ago and our families are super close,” added Barty. “I lived with the Peers family when I came back into the sport in 2016. For Johnny and I this is a really, really special moment to make Mama Peers proud.

“I feel like we can have a really open line of communication and can be really honest. That allows us to play freely and have fun. It was certainly nice to be pretty sharp tonight.

“It would have been 2014 the last time we played doubles together, so that was a while ago. But as soon as we got out there, it felt like we never stopped. I think that’s the beauty of knowing someone off the court as well as on the court.”

There was a shock earlier in the day as top seeds Nicolas Mahut and Kristina Mladenovic crashed out of the competition in the first round following a 6-4 6-2 defeat to ROC’s Aslan Karatsev and Elena Vesnina.

It is the second Olympic Games in succession that Mahut and Mladenovic have suffered a first-round exit having succumbed to Italians Roberta Vinci and Fabio Fognini in Rio de Janeiro five years ago.

Karatsev and Vesnina will now do battle with Lukasz Kubot and Iga Swiatek of Poland following their straight-sets victory over another French partnership in the form of Fiona Ferro and Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Kubot and Swiatek prevailed 6-3 7-6(3).

“It was very enjoyable. For me, mixed doubles is a totally different experience as I feel the full responsibility is not on me and I like playing with Lukasz,” said Swiatek. “He is the type of player who can tell me what to do as he is far more experienced.

“I think after playing a few tournaments together, our communication is getting much better and we can be more efficient on court and make less mistakes, even though mixed doubles is pretty unpredictable and you’re not always sure what is going to happen.”

For today’s victors, given the size of the mixed doubles draw, an Olympic medal is now tantalisingly close, not that the Polish pair, or anyone else for that matter, is getting ahead of themselves.

“I am not thinking about that,” said Kubot. “When we entered we knew there is a lot of hope for that but we are going point by point in the matches. That is the best approach for us and every match for us is 50-50 and everything is open.

“It’s mixed doubles and it is not a discipline you practice every week. Everything is open and today we won and I’m happy for that.”

Swiatek, meanwhile, is well aware of the stiff competition that she and Kubot face in the next round – the winners of which will progress to the semi-finals. After all, Karatsev and Vesnina reached the mixed doubles final at Roland Garros in June, while the former is one of only three players, along with Djokovic and Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, to still be alive in two draws in Tokyo.

“At the Olympics, experience is pretty important,” added Swiatek. “I see that right now as this is my first and at the beginning it was hard for me to understand everything around me.

“Right now, it’s important but when we’re on court everything goes to equal and all that matters is our tactics and the way we play. It is going to be hard, for sure. I played Vesnina in the doubles in Madrid [in May] but I think we have what we need to play well and compete.”

Elsewhere, a second ROC pairing also made progress as No. 4 seeds Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev dispatched Darija Jurak and Ivan Dodig following a hotly-contested encounter. Pavlyuchenkova and Rublev recovered from a set down to win 5-7 6-4 11-9.

Japanese pair Ben McLachlan and Ena Shibahara await in the quarter-finals following their 6-3 7-6(3) victory over Andrey Golubev and Yaroslava Shvedova in the final mixed doubles encounter of another enthralling day here in Tokyo.