Nole came through his first major test at this year’s Roland Garros.
Top seed and 2016 champion Novak Djokovic continued his quest for a 19th Grand Slam title as he completed a comeback from two-sets-to-love down on Monday for a place in the French Open quarter-finals.
The world no.1 progressed after three hours and 27 minutes of play on Court Philippe-Chatrier, when the in-form Italian Lorenzo Musetti retired at 6-7 (7), 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-0, 4-0.
Novak dropped the first two sets, both in tie-break, but stayed composed and dominated the rest of the match. He stormed through the remainder, losing just one game.
Match statistics: aces (11-1), double faults (2-2), winners (53-30), unforced errors (42-49), total points won (150-103).
Djokovic is through to the last eight in Paris for a 12th consecutive year.
In his 49th career major quarterfinal, the 34-year-old Serbian star will take on ninth seed Matteo Berrettini (H2H 1-0).
The Italian was through to the quarter-finals after the 2009 French Open champion and no.8 seed Roger Federer withdrew from the tournament ahead of their fourth-round match.
Looking ahead to the next challenge, Novak said: “He has a big serve, big forehand – two big weapons. He’s in form. He finished the last year very strong. He started this year strong as well, beating Dominic Thiem in Australia, playing a really good ATP Cup. He just has so much firepower in his game. I will need to be at my best in order to have a chance to win.”
Photo: Profimedia
