For the second straight match at the French Open, top seed Novak Djokovic dropped two sets and rallied for the win in the final two. He won his fourth round match against Francisco Cerundolo in five sets: 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Djokovic advances to the quarterfinals and will face No. 7 Casper Ruud or No. 12 Taylor Fritz. This means he passes Roger Federer as the man with the most Grand Slam quarter-finals at the age of 59.
The defending French Open champion Djokovic faced Ruud in the final last year and defeated him in three sets. Ruud has reached the past two tournament finals, while Djokovic has won two of the past three titles at Roland Garros.
On Monday, the three-time champion won the first set in his fourth-round match against Francisco Cerundolo before losing the next two. That was likely in large part due to an apparent injury Djokovic suffered to his knee in that first set.
Fans on social media expressed skepticism that Djokovic was actually injured and needed a medical timeout, but he did lose the next two sets and received treatment throughout the match.
He may also have been tired from playing until 3am local time on Saturday morning against Lorenzo Musetti, the last ever match at the French Open. The late times are a concern among players in this year’s tournament.
However, Djokovic held on and rallied in what turned into a four-hour, 39-minute match to prevail against Cerundolo’s strong serve, drop shots and return, sending him all over the court.
An absolute visual highlight was Djokovic going low and returning a volley in the fifth set, almost doing the splits as he went to the ground. He complained to the referee earlier in the match and called out to the grounds staff that the clay court was slippery.
Djokovic thanked the fans in attendance for their support and said they gave him the energy to come back and win.
“I would like to thank you very much, because just like in the previous match, the victory is yours and you will be helped,” Djokovic said in French. “The last match I was down two sets to one, and in the fourth set, 2-2, you gave me so much energy – thank you really. What can I say, I was maybe four points away from losing this match.” match, but Francisco played with so much quality. Well done.”
