Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer stayed on course for a mouth-watering French Open semi-final showdown yesterday, but only after they survived fourth round scares at a chilly Roland Garros.
Djokovic staged an epic recovery to beat Andreas Seppi 4-6, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 while Federer dropped the first set against Belgian lucky loser David Goffin before claiming a 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 win.
Djokovic, bidding to become just the third man to hold all four majors at the same time, and first since 1969, struggled in the cold conditions on Philippe Chatrier court against a player he’d beaten seven times in seven meetings.
“I played very badly, but I won thanks to my fighting spirit,” said Djokovic, after a 25th successive Grand Slam match win took him into the Paris quarter-finals for the sixth time.
“He was the better player for the first two sets and I was fortunate to come through.”
A lacklustre Djokovic committed 77 unforced errors to 22nd seed Seppi’s 81 before pulling through after four hours and 18 minutes.
The 25-year-old Djokovic has never got beyond the semi-finals in Paris and his discomfort on the testing red clay courts was starkly illustrated last year when a 43-match winning run was ended by Federer.
Yesterday, his love-hate relationship with the venue looked set to slump to a new low.
For the first two sets, he was heading for the biggest shock since Rafael Nadal had his perfect 31-match, four-title stretch smashed by Robin Soderling at the same stage in 2009.
But the top seed regrouped as Seppi, who had also played five-set matches in the second and third rounds, wilted.
Victory represented the Serb’s third win from two sets to love down after pulling off similar Houdini acts against Federer in the US Open semi-final last year and Wimbledon second round against Guillermo Garcia Lopez in 2005.
Federer, the record 16-time Grand Sam title winner, booked his place in a 32nd consecutive quarter-final at the majors.
“I didn’t know much about Goffin beforehand, but I know him a lot better now,” said Federer, who was two points away from going down two sets to love against the Belgian, who used to plaster his bedroom wall with posters of the Swiss.
The 21-year-old Goffin was bidding to become the first man to reach the last eight on his Grand Slam debut since Alex Radulescu at Wimbledon in 1996.
He was also the first lucky loser – an alternate on standby after being beaten in qualifying – to reach the last 16 of a major since countryman Dick Norman at Wimbledon in 1995.
Meanwhile, the men’s fourth round will be completed today when Rafael Nadal, who celebrated his 26th birthday yesterday, meets Juan Monaco.
Janko Tipsarevic tackles in-form Spanish 12th seed Nicolas Almagro.
Andy Murray faces French 17th seed Richard Gasquet with David Ferrer, the sixth seed, taking on 20th seed Marcel Granollers in an all-Spanish contest.