PARIS (Reuters) – World number one Novak Djokovic survived a massive scare before fighting back from two sets down against teenager Lorenzo Musetti to reach the French Open quarter-finals on Monday after the Italian retired in the fifth set.
Musetti, appearing in his first Grand Slam main draw, was inspired as he took the opening two sets on tiebreaks but crumbled and appeared to run out of energy as he managed one game thereafter before retiring at 4-0 down in the fifth set.
Djokovic was being outplayed and was facing his earliest Roland Garros exit since 2009, but the match swung his way in rapid fashion as he won the third set 6-1 in 24 minutes.
The Serb won the fourth set 6-0 and was then cruising through the decider before Musetti decided he could not play on.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
