Defending champion Novak Djokovic showed his supreme powers of recovery once again to come through a five-set marathon against Francisco Cerundolo and reach the French Open quarter-finals.
Serbia’s Djokovic, 37, looked hampered by injury before winning 6-1 5-7 3-6 7-5 6-3 against Argentine 23rd seed Cerundolo.
For the second time in three days, the 24-time major champion fought back from a two-sets-to-one deficit.
The fourth-round match with Cerundolo started about 4pm local time on Monday, little over 36 hours after his previous contest against Lorenzo Musetti finished at 3:07am on Sunday morning.
But Djokovic still had the mental and physical resilience to win another gruelling encounter lasting four hours and 39 minutes.
The top seed broke out into a beaming smile when he sealed victory, pointing to his chest and then to the court in celebration.
“Three or four times I was points away from losing this match and thank you to my opponent,” said Djokovic.
“He deserves so much applause that’s for sure. I’m not sure how I won this match.”
It was Djokovic’s 370th victory at a Grand Slam tournament, putting him clear of his great rival Roger Federer.
Djokovic will face the winner of Norwegian seventh seed Casper Ruud, who the Serb beat in last year’s final, and American 12th seed Taylor Fritz in the last eight.
Credit: bbc.com
