Novak Djokovic will be hoping for a more peaceful fourth round match on Monday afternoon when he continues her title defence. He will play Francisco Cerundolo for a spot in the quarter finals, with Taylor Fritz or Casper Ruud awaiting the winner. The Argentinian is in the fourth round for the second time in two years but will need to put in almighty effort to better that.
Cerundolo has been a consistent fixture in the Top 30 over the past two years following his breakthrough. That has been in large part down to his clay results, especially in South America. He backed up two easy wins with an impressive four set victory over Tommy Paul, running away with it in the end 3-6 6-3 6-3 6-2.
The ridiculous nature of slam scheduled showed once more in Djokovic’s win over Lorenzo Musetti. He didn’t complete his 7-5 6-7 2-6 6-3 6-0 comeback win against the Italian until 3am local time, shattering the previous late night record by over an hour. He looked in trouble down 1-2 and unable to handle the Musetti one-handed backhand but it was the younger player whose stamina let him down in this match once more. “Both Lorenzo and my performances stand out so I don’t want to be talking about the schedule. I think some things could have been handled a different way but there’s also a beauty in winning a match [so late].” he said.
Cerundolo is a competent player on clay but doesn’t really look to have one of the things that trouble Djokovic on this surface in particular. His toughest matches have come against players that are either lefties or one-handed backhanders, neither of which fit to the Argentinian. Assuming Djokovic has recovered appropriately, he should be able to deal with this one.
Prediction – Novak Djokovic in straight sets
