Novak Djokovic, struggling with an injured knee on his return to action after a 3am finish in the previous round, has overcome another five-set scare before eking out yet more records at Roland Garros and making the quarter-finals of the French Open.
The extraordinary defending champion was again pushed to the limit to dispatch Argentine Francisco Cerundolo 6-1 5-7 3-6 7-5 6-3 on Monday for his 370th match victory at a grand slam, looking in big trouble before beating the landmark for most major wins that he had shared with Roger Federer.
It kept him on course for a record-extending 25th grand slam title but the 37-year-old was definitely not at his best, surely eventually feeling the effects of his four-and-a-half hour third-round win over Lorenzo Musetti in the early hours of Sunday with another contest that dragged on for four hours 39 minutes.
More alarmingly for Djokovic for the rest of the tournament may have been the sight of him being treated for a right knee injury early in the second set which left him limping following a spectacular start and then clearly contributed to him falling two sets to one behind.
Djokovic told the physio, “I screwed up my knee. I’m slipping and sliding all the time”, and he also had a sharp exchange with the tournament supervisor about the court condition.
“I’m telling you as a player, it’s not okay,” he said, to which the official responded that the ground staff felt the surface was okay. “They know better than me the court is good or not?” scoffed Djokovic.
No.23 seed Cerundolo took advantage of the disquiet, and appeared to be on the way to a famous triumph as he went up 4-2 in the fourth set, only for Djokovic to once more find astonishing reserves to claw back and level the contest.
Djokovic took another nasty tumble when his footing slipped, yet picked himself out of the dirt to earn another remarkable victory that sets up the prospect of a quarter-final tie against either American No.1 Taylor Fritz or two-time finalist Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals.
The champion does look vulnerable, but he is still bathed in the aura that made it seem almost inevitable that he would seal victory with the tension at its highest.
It was his 40th final-set win in 51 five-setters over his matchless career, as he also made it a record 59th grand slam men’s quarter-final.
He also enjoyed an 11th five-set win at Roland Garros to tie Gael Monfils and Stan Wawrinka in the Open era.
“Again a big, big, big thank you because once again like the last match, the win is your win,” Djokovic told the crowd in French
But the rest of the final-eight, though, including Australia’s Alex de Minaur, will feel encouraged that even the seemingly unbeatable really is beatable on this form.