Paris [France], June 4 : The 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic performed even better at the French Open 2024 Roland Garros in the fourth-round clash, keeping his dreams of remaining World No. 1 alive.
The Serbian appeared to be out of the match against Francisco Cerundolo after trailing by two sets and a break, but he rallied to win 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
The 37-year-old defeated Lorenzo Musetti in five sets in the third round, which ended at 3:07 a.m. on Sunday morning. The Serbian followed up his amazing triumph with another epic effort against Cerundolo, winning back-to-back five-set matches for the first time since reaching the final at Roland Garros in 2012.
"Again a big, big, big thank you because once again like the last match, the win is your win," Djokovic told the crowd in his on-court interview as quoted by ATP.
Despite the late finish against Musetti, Djokovic appeared fresh in the first set against Cerundolo in the pair's maiden ATP Head2Head match. However, the top seed strained his knee at the start of the second set, limiting his movement in the second and third sets, and the Serbian appeared to be on his way out when he trailed 2-4 in the fourth.
"I started feeling the pain [in set two] and asked for the physio treatment and the medical timeout and tried to take care of it. It did disrupt me definitely in play. For two sets, two sets and a half, I didn't want to stay in the rally too long. Every time he would make sudden drop shots or change directions, I would not be feeling comfortable to do the running," he added.
"At one point I didn't know, to be honest, whether I should continue or not with what's happening," said the 24-time major champion.
Djokovic, however, refused to give up, breaking back to level at 4-4 before locking in at the finish of the set to force a decider in front of a loud crowd on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
In typical Djokovic fashion, the top seed found his best form in the fifth set. He won in four hours and 39 minutes after squandering a break advantage and falling behind 2-1. Djokovic's 370th major triumph vaults him into top place in Grand Slam victories.
Djokovic has made it to the quarterfinals in Paris 15 times in a row and 18 times in total. The seven-time Nitto ATP Finals champion, who has won the clay-court major three times, will next face either Casper Ruud or Taylor Fritz.
Djokovic is aiming a record-extending 25th major title and must reach the final to maintain his lead in the PIF ATP Rankings at the end of the event. If second seed Jannik Sinner advances to the title match, he will become the 29th player in history (since 1973) to reach No. 1.
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