Novak Djokovic battled injury and fatigue to survive another near five-hour, five-set French Open thriller with a 6-1 5-7 3-6 7-5 6-3 victory over Francisco Cerundolo on Monday.
The 37-year-old tweaked his knee and received four medical timeouts for a problem with his leg, but despite his movement being hampered on Court Philippe-Chatrier, Djokovic refused to surrender as battled back from two sets to one down and 2-4 in the fourth set to make the last eight in Paris for the 15th consecutive time.
Djokovic will play the winner of the match between American Taylor Fritz or two-time finalist Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
De Minaur makes history for Australia
Alex de Minaur broke a 20-year Australian hoodoo at the French Open as he battled from a set down to stun fifth seed Daniil Medvedev
Alex de Minaur was roared on by his young superfan as he upset Daniil Medvedev to reach his first quarter-final in Paris.
The Australian had launched an appeal on social media to find the boy who had cheered every point he won throughout his rain-interrupted third-round win over Jan-Lennard Struff.
And the boy was given a front-row seat on Court Suzanne Lenglen to watch his hero reach the last eight after a 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-3 victory.
“He’s managed a miracle. I might have to get him on tour week in, week out,” said the 11th seed.
“No, we found him obviously through the beautiful world of social media, we ended up finding him. We got him to the match. He came with his whole crew, with his mates and his coach. It was great to see him out there.
“Again, even on that big court, I could hear him after every single point. It’s a distinctive voice, so it’s great to see.
“He’ll be around. I think he’ll be chilling with me tomorrow in my practice day and of course he’ll be there for the very next match.”
It was a tough afternoon for fifth seed Medvedev, who took the first set handily but needed lengthy treatment on a horrible-looking blister on his foot in the second.
Medvedev refused to blame the issue for his defeat, though.
He said: “No, not at all. I had a blister, it didn’t help me to call the physio, but I had a blister that got a little irritated so needed to take care of it.
“No, Alex played better. To be honest, I’m disappointed to lose, but I don’t have anything to tell myself in a tough way like I was not, I don’t know, good attitude today or I was not fighting till the end.
“I did all of this. He played better. My best was not enough today, so looking forward to next ones.”
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- Stuttgart Open (ATP 250 with Andy Murray in action) – June 10-16
- Rosmalen Open (ATP/WTA 250) – June 10-16
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