Djokovic Survives In Five At Roland Garros

Second seed Novak Djokovic was a set away from losing his Roland Garros crown, but finished with a flourish against an inspired Diego Schwartzman on Friday to reach the fourth round with a  5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory in three hours and 18 minutes.

Djokovic improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Schwartzman to 2-0. He picked up his 58^th match win (58-11) at Roland Garros, tieing Guillermo Vilas for third on the all-time list at this event. Making his 13^th consecutive appearance at Roland Garros, Djokovic has not lost before the quarter-finals since 2009. He is bidding to become the first man in the Open Era – and only the third man in history – to win each of the four Grand Slams twice. Roy Emerson and Rod Laver are the only other men to accomplish the feat.

Schwartzman was appearing in the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time. He falls to 0-13 against players inside the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Djokovic will play 16th seed Lucas Pouille or 19^th seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas for a place in the last eight.

Although Schwartzman was in uncharted territory at a Grand Slam, he wasn’t overwhelmed by the occasion on Court Philippe Chatrier. The Argentine twice rallied from a break down in the opening set. A nervy game on his serve at 6-5 saw four set points come and go, but he made good on his fifth chance to take the early advantage.

Djokovic cleaned up his game considerably in the second set. He finished the opening set with eight winners and 21 unforced errors, but ended the second set with 13 winners and nine unforced errors. The Serbian grabbed the lone break of the set at 4-3 and eventually leveled the match.

Schwartzman refused to budge, though, and continued to engage the defending champion in grueling baseline battles. With the crowd chanting his name, Schwartzman began throwing his whole body into forehand winners that saw the packed stadium yell in delight. He earned three straight break points on Djokovic’s serve at 4-3 and converted on the third after Djokovic sent a forehand just outside the lines. He then rallied from 0/40 in the next game, saving four break points in total, and took a commanding lead when Djokovic hit a backhand return wide on set point.chwartzman

But while Schwartzman’s effort never betrayed him, his body did in the latter stages of the match. He began to frequently clutch his ribs after points in the fourth set and the injury appeared to result in diminished speeds on his shots. He failed to hold serve in the fourth set and won just five points in his three service games.

The Argentine took an injury timeout at 1-4 in the fifth set, but the treatment wasn’t enough to sustain the barrage of relentless rallies. A final forehand from Djokovic on his first match point wrapped up the contest, but both he and the rest of Court Philippe Chatrier gave Schwartzman a standing ovation for his outstanding effort.

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