Novak Djokovic went from a big deficit to his best tennis on Monday at Roland Garros, erasing a two-set deficit and grabbing 13 games in a row in a dominant display before his opponent stopped playing because of an injury.
The result officially goes into the books as a retirement by Lorenzo Musetti, a talented 19-year-old from Italy making his Grand Slam debut.
The score when he quit showed Djokovic ahead 6-7(7), 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-0, 4-0.
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It took Djokovic more than two sets and two hours to get going in the right direction at Court Philippe Chatrier, but once he did, it became a one-way journey. That included a 19-point run for him bridging the end of the third set and start of the fourth.
Musetti, so good at the outset with his one-handed backhand and tremendous touch, is hardly used to this best-of-five-set format at the majors and he sought treatment from a trainer after the fourth. This was the second five-setter of Musetti’s career — he won his third-rounder that way — while Djokovic improved to 34-10 when going the distance. Djokovic wound up 9 for 9 on his break-point chances and with a 53-30 edge in winners.
Greece’s Maria Sakkari demolished last year’s runner-up Sofia Kenin 6-1, 6-3 to reach the last eight of a Grand Slam for the first time. The World No. 18 needed just 68 minutes to defeat the fourth-seeded American.
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Sakkari broke Kenin six times as the 2020 Australian Open winner committed 32 unforced errors and served nine double faults.
If Coco Gauff keeps playing like this, she’s going to go from teenage prodigy to Grand Slam champion in a hurry.
The 17-year-old American completely overwhelmed Ons Jabeur in a 6-3, 6-1 victory to become the youngest woman to reach the quarterfinals at any Grand Slam tournament in 15 years.
Rohan Bopanna and his Croatian partner Franko Skugor lost their men’s doubles quarterfinal.
The 41-year-old Bopanna and Skugos went down 7-5, 6-3 to the Spanish duo of Pablo Andujar and Pedro Martinez in a match that lasted one hour and 17 minutes.