French Open: Novak Djokovic wins titanic 5-setter against resilient Lorenzo Musetti

Novak Djokovic overcame the resilient Lorenzo Musetti in the third round of the French Open 2024 in the early hours of June 2, Sunday.

The match, which started on Saturday, stretched on till the early hours of the next day as Djokovic pushed to his limits by the 30th seed, who had the World No.1 on the ropes. The match was far from straight forward for the Serbian as he had to play more than 4 hours and 20 minutes to get the win in the end.

Musetti, who came into the contest after beating Gael Monfils in the previous round, made Djokovic work for every single point from the get-go as the World No.1 had to dig deep into his arsenal to win the match 7-5, 6-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 to make it to the fourth round, where he will face Francisco Cerundolo on 3 June, Monday.

How the match unfolded
It was an even start from the get-go as the score was 1-1. However, a few errors from the Serbian allowed Musetti to break and take the lead.

Djokovic would quickly break back and went on to hold the next game and take the lead in the contest. Both men looked to be matching each other stride for stride as the first set was forced into a tie-breaker. However, Djokovic capitalised on the errors made by the Italian and broke him to take the first set.

The second set saw Musetti produce a stunning comeback after trailing 4-1 at one point. The Italian was able to break the World No.1 and make it 4-4 to put the pressure on the defending champion.

Djokovic took back the lead and it seemed like the Italian was struggling to stay in the game. He would dig deep and forced the game into another tiebreaker. This time he took a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker before Djokovic levelled things up. After the Serbian was on the cusp of taking the set, Musetti came back again to save the set point and then getting one of his own and converting it to make it 1-1.

The third set saw Djokovic become increasingly frustrated as errors started to frequently into his game and he would allow Musetti take a 2-1 lead.

The Italian continued to dominate and converted a break point and served well to extend his lead to 4-1. Djokovic was then forced to serve to stay in the set but he failed to put up any challenge as the Italian cruised to win the third set.

The 4th set saw both men win on their own serves before an intense 5th game. It was Djokovic who would get the break point, but Musetti saved it in the first instance. The World No.1 would bounce back and get the break point with his second go. He was pumped up and rallied the crowd to cheer him on, which they obliged to.

The Serbian held on to his serve to extend his lead to 4-2, and then broke Musetti to get closer to make it 2-2 in the match. However, Musetti wasn’t ready to give up and produce an incredible shot enroute to breaking Djokovic to make it 5-3.

Djokovic would then produce a phenomenal drop shot of his own after an incredible sequence as he pumped the audience once again. He would end up wrapping up the set 6-3 as the game was pushed into the decider.

The final set saw both men engage incredible rallies but it was Djokovic who had the full advantage as he brought his A-game. Djokovic would break Musetti twice and took a 4-0 lead in the contest.

However, the Italian still kept on fighting as he produced another incredible shot in the fifth game. But Djokovic was too good in the end and was able to take the final set 6-0 to keep his title defence on track.