By Shrivathsa Sridhar, Reuters
Serbia's Novak Djokovic eyes the ball during his men's singles round of sixteen match against Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo on Court Philippe-Chatrier on day nine of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros Complex in Paris on 3 June, 2024. Photo: AFP / Emmanuel Dunand
Defending champion Novak Djokovic produced another superhuman effort to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open, as the top seed shrugged off a knee issue for a milestone win.
Djokovic subdued Argentine Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
The Serb, who is chasing a record-extending 25th Grand Slam title, sealed his 370th match victory at the majors that broke a tie with Swiss great Roger Federer but his title rivals will be smelling blood after another up-and-down display.
The 37-year-old showed no early signs of fatigue from his marathon third-round win over Lorenzo Musetti, a four-and-a-half hour epic that ended in the early hours of Sunday morning in Paris, as he blitzed claycourt specialist Cerundolo in the opening set.
He suffered a right knee issue early in the next and needed treatment on court before saving four break points to draw level at 3-3 with a backhand bullet, but allowed his opponent a way back in by surrendering his serve in the 12th game.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic falls on the court during his men's singles round of sixteen match against Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo on Court Philippe-Chatrier on day nine of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros Complex in Paris on 3 June, 2024. Photo: AFP / Bertrand Guay
Cerundolo grabbed another break early in the next set to go 3-0 up and comfortably got ahead in the clash as alarm bells began to ring for Djokovic in a second straight match at the claycourt Grand Slam he has won three times.
The finish line seemed to appear for Cerundolo when he went up 4-2 in the next set but the 25-year-old squandered the advantage as Djokovic sent down two big serves and produced a spectacular drop en route to holding for 6-5 before levelling the contest.
Having dropped serve after a fast start, Djokovic took a nasty tumble during a point and ranted about the state of the Court Philippe Chatrier surface before dusting himself off to close out a superb victory.
Alex de Minaur. Photo: RICHARD WAINWRIGHT/Photosport
Meanwhile, Alex de Minaur broke a 20-year Australian hoodoo at the French Open as the 11th seed battled from a set down to stun fifth seed Daniil Medvedev 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 and advance to his first Roland Garros quarter-final.
De Minaur became the first man from his nation to reach the last eight at the claycourt Grand Slam since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004, with victorycoming after a mid-match blip for Medvedev following a foot blister.
"It's great. It's amazing. It's a great position to be in," De Minaur told reporters.
"It's not just myself. The whole country is showing what we can do and the strength of the nation is extremely exciting for even everyone back at home, just to see all the numbers we got in the top 100, and we keep on pushing out there.
Former Paris quarter-finalist Medvedev had lost only twice in eight previous meetings with De Minaur.
-Reuters