Djokovic rallies to overcome teenager Musetti, enters quarters

Paris, June 7 (IANS) World No.1 Novak Djokovic came back from a two-set deficit to overcome Italian teenager Lorenzo Musetti who retired in the fifth set and the Serbian moved into the French Open quarterfinals here on Monday.Djokovic prevailed 6-7(7), 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-0, 4-0 in three hours and 27 minutes, before 19-year-old Musetti retired. For the 2016 French Open champion, it was the fifth time in his career to comeback from two-sets-to-love down to win. Djokovic will take on Italy's ninth seed Matteo Berrettini, who got a walkover after Swiss ace Roger Federer withdrew from the tournament on Sunday, for a place in the semi-finals. Diego Schwartzman, the 10th seed from Argentina, hit sublime form defeating Germany's world No.42 Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6(9), 6-4, 7-5 to make the last-eight grade at Roland Garros for the third time. Schwartzman, who has yet to lose a set in the tournament, will next take on the winner of the match between 13-time champion Rafael Nadal and Italian Jannik Sinner. Djokovic, who is in the quarterfinals for a record 12th consecutive year, came through his first big test at this year's French Open, winning 13 games in a row from a 3-1 advantage in the third set to a 4-0 lead in the decider against Musetti. Djokovic, the 18-time Grand Slam champion, will go into the quarterfinal contest against Berrettini full of confidence as he had beaten the Italian 6-2, 6-1 in their only previous meeting, at the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals.
--IANS
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