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6-26 Jan
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Roland Garros: Djokovic survives scare, Nadal, Swiatek advance

  • Matt Trollope

Novak Djokovic trailed Italian teenager Lorenzo Musetti by two sets to love before outlasting his talented young opponent on Monday at Roland Garros.

Djokovic moved through to the quarterfinals when Musetti ultimately retired in the fifth set, while 13-time champion Rafael Nadal reached the same stage after dominating another Italian teen in Jannik Sinner.

Women's defending champion Iga Swiatek continued her title defence with a straight-sets win over Marta Kostyuk and was joined in the quarterfinals by Coco Gauff, Barbora Krejcikova and Maria Sakkari, with the latter upsetting No.4 seed Sofia Kenin.

READ MORE: Gauff storms into first major quarterfinal

Meanwhile, world No.1 Dylan Alcott won his third straight quad singles title at Roland Garros with a 6-4 6-2 win over Dutchman Sam Schroder, before Brit Alfie Hewitt defended his men’s singles title with victory over top seed Shingo Kunieda.

Djokovic survives, Nadal thrives

Musetti dazzled fans with his shot-making skills and poise on the biggest stage of his life to date, taking the opening two sets in tiebreaks against an out-of-sorts Djokovic.

Yet the world No.1 calmed himself down at the beginning of the third set, and from there he completely dominated an opponent who faded physically.

Djokovic, playing for a 19th Grand Slam singles title and second in Paris, collected the next two sets in just over 40 minutes – dropping only 14 points in the process – and moved ahead 4-0 in the fifth before Musetti retired due to what he later revealed to be cramping and lower back pain.

Djokovic, who next faces another Italian in Matteo Berrettini, remains on track for a blockbuster semifinal against Nadal, who staged his own comeback to beat Sinner.

Nadal trailed 5-3 the opening set before wresting control of the match, winning 16 of the final 19 games to win 7-5 6-3 6-0 – extending his streak of consecutive sets won at Roland Garros to 35.

In a rematch of last year’s semifinal, Nadal next plays 10th seed Diego Schwartzman, who rebounded from 5-1, 40-15 down in the first set – he saved seven set points overall – and a break down in the second, to beat Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets.

Swiatek, Gauff advance

In the night match, Swiatek overcame Ukrainian teenager Kostyuk in a battle that was closer and more tense than the scoreline suggested.

Swiatek won 6-3 6-4 – she has now won 22 consecutive sets at Roland Garros – with a brilliant lob-volley winner and next faces Sakkari, whose 6-1 6-3 win over Kenin sent the Greek player into her first major quarterfinal.

Earlier on Monday, Gauff and Krejcikova also progressed to their first Grand Slam quarterfinals with dominant displays on Monday.

Gauff, 17, needed just 53 minutes to see off Ons Jabeur while Krejcikova routed Sloane Stephens 6-2 6-0. 

Stat of the day

For the first time in the Open Era, there are six first-time Grand Slam quarterfinalists advancing to the last eight of the women’s field, after Sakkari, Gauff and Krejcikova joined Elena Rybakina, Paula Badosa and Tamara Zidansek at this stage.

Notably, there were five major champions – Swiatek, Kenin, Stephens, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka – in contention as the fourth round commenced.

Now, only Swiatek remains.

The Polish 20-year-old is also the only top-10 ranked player to have survived this far.

Alcott, Hewett win wheelchair titles

Alcott added to his flourishing trophy cabinet with a 13th career Grand Slam singles title in the quad wheelchair event.

In a repeat of the AO 2021 quad singles final, Alcott defeated Schroder – who led 4-2 in the first set before the Australian rebounded – 6-4 6-2 to win his second straight major title.

“J’adore Roland Garros, baby!” Alcott said in an entertaining winner’s speech on court.

He remains on track for a calendar-year Grand Slam sweep, after coming within one match of the feat in 2019.

Hewett, who a day earlier triumphed in the men’s wheelchair doubles event with fellow Brit Gordon Reid, beat world No.1 Kunieda 6-3 6-4 for his third French Open singles title, and fifth Slam singles trophy overall.

And it was a similar sweep for Diede De Groot, who won the women’s wheelchair doubles title with fellow Dutchwoman Aniek Van Koot after claiming the women’s singles title on Sunday.

Upset of the day

Unexpected results have characterised the second week of the women’s tournament, yet Sakkari’s defeat of Kenin was nonetheless surprising, given Kenin’s recent resurgence.

The American entered the tournament on a four-match losing streak but rediscovered impressive form to return to the fourth round at Roland Garros for the third year running.

She seemed to be finding a similar level to when she won through to last year’s final in Paris – until she suddenly found herself down 6-1 5-1 to Sakkari.

Sakkari, a comparative second-week novice, wrapped up victory in just 68 minutes, benefitting from Kenin’s nine double faults among 32 unforced errors.

Tweet of the day

Quotes of the day

“I like to play young guys in best-of-five, because I feel even if they are leading a set or two-sets-to-love as it was the case today, I still like my chances, because I feel like I'm physically fit and I know how to wear my opponent down in the best-of-five match.”
- Novak Djokovic

“She actually messaged me and she was joking, she said: ‘Oh, I forgot to tell you, when I was in the previous match, I'm so sad you broke my tournament best record’.”
- Maria Sakkari, whose mother, Angeliki Kanellopoulou, advanced to the third round at Roland Garros in 1985 and 1987.

“Obviously when you play against top guys like Rafa, Roger, or Novak, it's tough to play against them because they are very strong mentally, which I think we have seen today as well. Novak against Lorenzo, coming back from two sets to love.”
- Jannik Sinner, after falling to Rafael Nadal for the second straight year in Paris.

“I feel like in the past, I felt like I was satisfied with the run I made in the tournament, so maybe I feel like I came into the matches I guess not as hungry, and I know it's probably not a good thing to say but it's the truth. A lot of young players, I think we tend to get satisfied with … certain results before we realise that we can really shoot for more. My message has always been ‘dream big and aim higher’. I think that today was honestly coming from that message of aiming higher, because I could have easily said I'm satisfied with fourth round and everything, but today I think I just came in more hungry and wanting more.”
- Coco Gauff

“For me was a fantastic experience. I was playing, I think, my best tennis, for sure. I have never played like today.”
- Lorenzo Musetti

Day 10: Ones to watch

Quarterfinal singles action takes over Court Philippe Chatrier, with a blockbuster clash between Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas scheduled for the night session.

Tsitsipas is currently enjoying perhaps the best form on clay of any player on the men’s tour, yet he faces an opponent who has won six of their seven career meetings – including their Australian Open semifinal earlier this year.

ORDER OF PLAY: Roland Garros Day 10

Prior to that, Alexander Zverev will take on young Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina for a place in the semifinals, while another Spaniard, Paula Badosa, opens the order of play when she tackles 85th-ranked Slovenian Tamara Zidansek.

Between those two matches will be the quarterfinal pitting doubles partners Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Rybakina – the conqueror of Serena Williams – against one another.