Novak Djokovic survives Davidovich Fokina scare to make French Open fourth spherical

Two-times champion Novak Djokovic huffed and puffed nonetheless compelled his method into the fourth spherical of the French Open following a 7-6(4) 7-6(5) 6-2 win over Spanish twenty ninth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Friday.

Djokovic, who’s aiming to leapfrog injured champion Rafa Nadal and win a twenty third Grand Slam title, received right here into the match at Court Philippe Chatrier having misplaced to Davidovich Fokina the ultimate time they met in Monte Carlo.

The 36-year-old Serbian was given an early reminder of his struggles in that 2022 match by the man-bun sporting Davidovich Fokina, who had the world amount three tied up in knots with some heavy hitting and breathtaking drop photos.

Djokovic creaked on serve nonetheless hit once more when it mattered to stage at 3-3 and edged the 83-minute first set with a blistering crosscourt winner that drew massive roars.

A charged-up Djokovic responded to an early break with two of his private nonetheless dropped serve as soon as extra inside the wildly swinging second set, sooner than shrugging off three double faults at 5-5 and a time violation to double his profit in a single different tiebreak.

He known as the coach onto the courtroom for an apparent left leg topic, sparking fears the injury that accompanied his run to the Australian Open title in January had returned, nonetheless pulled away inside the third set and crossed the top line in vogue.