Djokovic loses first two sets but then roars past Musetti into French Open quarter-finals

A big scare was put into Novak Djokovic early in his fourth-round match at the French Open.

To say the scare didn’t last long would be a gross understatement.

Djokovic trailed Italian teenager Lorenzo Musetti two sets to love but dominated the rest of the match to prevail via retirement while leading 6-7(7), 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-0, 4-0 on Monday afternoon. The world No 1, who converted all nine of his break-point chances, needed three hours and 27 minutes to set up a quarterfinal contest against Matteo Berrettini.

Sets one and two lasted two hours and 21 minutes by themselves. The next three — or two and two-thirds to be exact — lasted barely more than hour.

Those first two-plus hours sure were fun for Musetti. Playing in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career, the 19-year-old did well to reach the second week and for a while showed signs of pulling off a monumental upset that would propel him into the last eight. He played a brilliant first-set tiebreaker and recovered nicely from giving back a break in the second to force another ‘breaker. Musetti benefited from a poor stretch of tennis by Djokovic at that point to seize a surprising 2-0 lead.

THE TIDE TURNS

Right from the start of the third, however, everything was entirely different. Musetti, coming off a five-setter against countryman Marco Cecchinato two days earlier, appeared to be struggling physically. That coincided with a drastic rise in Djokovic’s level, the combination of which completely turned the tide of the match. The top-seeded Serb lost only 10 points in the middle frame of play and came relatively close to a golden set in the fourth when he reeled off the first 16 points. In the end, Musetti earned four total points in the fourth.

After taking a medical timeout prior to the fifth, the world No 76 briefly looked like his energy level had improved to a small extent. But hope once again turned to despair, and a struggling Musetti called it quits after falling into an insurmountable 4-0 hole.

PHYSICAL STRUGGLES END “FANTASTIC EXPERIENCE”

“No, no, no, it’s not an injury,” Musetti explained. “It’s, well, just a little bit of cramps and a little bit of low back pain. I was not anymore able to win a point, and so was not really — grateful also for the crowd that was there — so I decided to retire. There was no chance that I could win a point, so I decided to retire because I think it was the best thing to do it.”

It was also the best tennis he had played…at least for two sets.

“For me (it) was a fantastic experience,” Musetti assured. “I was playing, I think, my best tennis, for sure. I have never played like today. The first two sets were really long, like…more than two hours. Of course I’m a little bit disappointed, but I played I think against No. 1 in the world and I took him the first two sets. I mean, he started play really good, and then I had some problems with my physical part. Yeah, I think I have to work there.”

For Djokovic, the work continues into the quarter-finals.

He and Berrettini will be squaring off for just the second time in their careers on Wednesday. The 25-year-old Italian advanced through the fourth round by walkover from Roger Federer.