Very Good Morning As Novak Djokovic Battles Back In French Open Epic

Novak Djokovic avoided crashing to his worst defeat at the French Open in 15 years in the early hours of Sunday morning as title rival Alexander Zverev was also pushed to the limit. Defending champion and 24-time Grand Slam title winner Djokovic came from two sets to one down to defeat Italy's Lorenzo Musetti 7-5, 6-7 (6/8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in a third round tie which ended at 3:07 a.m. (0107 GMT). His four-hour 29-minute victory also allowed the 37-year-old world number one to equal Roger Federer's record of 369 Grand Slam match wins.

His reward is a clash with Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina for a place in the quarter-finals.

"I need to say congratulations to Lorenzo Musetti it's a shame someone had to lose," Djokovic said in his on-court TV interview.

"He played an incredible match. He was very, very close to winning."

It was almost 10:45 p.m. (2045 GMT) on Saturday night when Djokovic and Musetti eventually took to Court Philippe Chatrier after a seventh day of rain had prompted officials to squeeze extra matches onto the covered show courts.

Djokovic retrieved an early break in the first set and broke again in the 12th game to secure the opener.

He was 3-1 up in the second before he was pinned back in the seventh game while wasting a set point in the tie-breaker.

Musetti, who had famously taken a two sets lead over Djokovic at the 2021 tournament before quitting in the decider with an injury,  was suddenly the fresher of the two as the clock ticked towards 2 a.m. 

He swept through the third set courtesy of a double break.

However, in an astonishing turn around, Djokovic summoned his trademark fighting spirit and tenacity to level the tie with a double break of his own in the fourth set.

Musetti, 15 years Djokovic's