Alexander Zverev vs. Dominic Thiem was supposed to be the main event at the French Open on Tuesday. It turned out to be the undercard–and with room to spare.
Following Thiem’s straight-set beatdown of Zverev, Marco Cecchinato stunned Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-7(4), 1-6, 7-6(11) in three hours and 24 minutes. Cecchinato, who had never won a single match at a Grand Slam prior to this fortnight, recovered from deficits of 3-0 and 5-2 in the fourth set before saving three set points in a wild tiebreaker. The 72nd-ranked Italian had previously fought off three set points at 5-6 in the second set.
A dramatic, high-quality fourth-set ‘breaker finally ended when Cecchinato converted his fourth match point with a backhand return winner.
“It was amazing tennis today,” the 25-year-old assessed. “After the (final) return, when I saw (it was) on the line, it was the best moment of my life.”
“He played amazing and credit to him,” Djokovic said of Cecchinato. “Congrats for a great performance. He came out very well. I struggled from the beginning. Unfortunately, it took me time to get well and (I) struggled with a little injury, at the beginning. And after, when I warmed up, it was better.
“(It was) just a pity that I couldn’t capitalize on the chances in the 4-1 in the fourth set and some break points, but he came back and credit to him…. He didn’t seem to be [fazed by] the big stadium or big match. He just held his nerves amazingly well in the important moments.”
Highlights:
As for Thiem vs. Zverev, it never came close to living up to the hype. The 21-year-old German was coming off three straight five-setters and did not have much left in the tank, primarily undone by a hamstring injury. Thiem took advantage to dominate 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 and book a spot in his third consecutive French Open semifinal.
“I actually felt good today,” Zverev commented. “Waking up in the morning, I actually felt, ‘Okay, I can play five sets again.’ Even in the warmup and even the first few games, it was the best I felt the ball all week. I thought it was going to be a tough, physical match, but unfortunately my body didn’t hold up.
“But I still wanted to finish the match and kind of give the credit to Dominic. He deserves to be in the semifinals.”
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nice one, Marco
The Roland Garros website tells:
“DJOKOVIC: I DON’T KNOW WHERE I GO FROM HERE”:
https://www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/article/roland-garros-2018-novak-djokovic-dont-know-where-i-go-from-here
At this rate the prospect of a 52nd meeting between Rafa and Nole anytime soon is remote. Pity because for the time being his winning h2h continues to stand at 26:25 🙁
It also marks the demise of the Big Four who between them dominated the tour for more than a decade. Incredibly Rafa and Federer are still jockeying for pole position.
ed, yes, Rafa and Nole would’ve to meet in the earlier rounds – if the Djoker continues to play regularly, that is.
It’s indeed a quirky twist that the two older members of the Big Fur are still standing tall – for now – while the younger ones have fallen off the winning circle. But I also expect that Rafa’s and Roger’s absolute reign will be over sooner rather than later. Some of the young guns have finally arrived…
littlefoot, do you realise that Rafa is only a year older than Djokovic and Murray?
Yes, of course, nadline. But while Rafa is only a year older, he has accumulated a lot more mileage than Novak and Andy, since he started to be a slam contender and winner as the last teenager in recent tennis history.
Rafa has played about a hundred or so more matches than Djoko, so the mileage difference isn’t that much. Don’t forget, while Rafa was away injured, Djoko was playing many matches a season and I really thought, before Djoko’s injuries, that he’s going to catch up with Rafa on the mileage and matches played.
Life is full of unpredictabilities, who would have thought that the Djoko who’s the least affected by injuries among the big four, could end up having a serious injury and now has difficulty getting back to his high level.
Yes, maybe the relatively condensed accumulation of mileage during a relatively short period of time – between 2011-2016 – has caught up with Novak physically and mentally, while Rafa’s extended times away from the tennis circuit may have been not only negative for him.
A meeting between Rafa and Nole could happen earlier in the draw with Djokovic being ranked outside the top 20. Yes, it seems that finally, the reign of the Big 4 is over. I’m not writing Djokovic off just yet, because he did show signs of his old self against Marco but whether he would improve on that or not remains to be seen. I know Marco is only ranked outside the top 70, but there is no doubt that he’s played very well yesterday to win. However, this is the sort of player Djokovic would have put away easily 2 years ago.
As for Murray, he loves playing cat and mouse with his schedule. It was meaningful to keep people guessing – will he, won’t he- play when he mattered in the draw but now it’s irrelevant when he chooses to withdraw because he won’t be seeded. He only started practising a few days ago but still led people to think he would play Limbera on grass in Holland next week then pulled out yesterday saying he might still play Wimbledon. Enough of the cat and mouse.