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After a 3:08 a.m. Parisian epic, Novak Djokovic advances to the French Open semifinals for the 18th time; Felix Auger-Aliassime schedules a match with Carlos Alcaraz; and from June 10–16, you can watch Andy Murray compete live at the Stuttgart Open exclusively on Sky Sports Tennis.
In the closest match finish in French Open history, Novak Djokovic, the defending champion and top-ranked player in the world, prevailed over Lorenzo Musetti after a five-set, nearly five-hour thriller.
In an exciting match that began at 10.40 p.m. local time on Saturday, the defending champion displayed the steely determination that has made him one of the best players in the history of the game to escape losing.
After a match that lasted four hours and 29 minutes and ended on Sunday after 3am local time, Djokovic went on to seal a marathon 7-5 6-7 (6-8) 2-6 6-3 6-0 comeback victory over 22-year-old Italian Musetti to advance to the last 16. This match broke the tournament's previous record of 1.26am.
At the top of the all-time rankings, the Serbian tied Roger Federer with his 369th Grand Slam title.
On the court, Djokovic remarked, "He played a fantastic match and came very close to victory."
"I was having a lot of trouble, but in the fourth set, with your help, I changed as a player. I think it was the best game I've ever played here."
After losing the first set badly, the 37-year-old battled the Italian player to a standstill and eventually prevailed with a vital break, all owing to some amazing defending.
After a stunning drop to take a 3-1 lead in the second set, Djokovic was soon in cruise control.
However, Musetti rallied to draw the match at 4–4 and then saved a set in a thrilling tie-break.
Then, as Djokovic's fatigue started to show, the 30th seed raised his game even further to break and dominate the third set before easily winning it. Djokovic had to dig deep to tie the match.
In the decider, umpire Adel Nour called Djokovic for a time violation, causing him to lose his first serve. Djokovic vented over the condition of the surface. "Please, just a little understanding," he said.
Even yet, at the horrible hour of 3.08am, he found his groove again and bagelled his worn-out opponent.
"Who's going to sleep now?" Djokovic continued. "Sleeping is unattainable due to excessive adrenaline. I'm coming if you're throwing a party."
The 23rd seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, who made it to the fourth round the previous year, will be the opponent for the 24-time Grand Slam champion.
The three-time Roland Garros champion Djokovic needs to make it to the final in order to have any chance of holding the top ranking, but if Jannik Sinner advances to the final on Sunday, he will undoubtedly become the 29th player in history (since 1973) to take the top spot.
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