French Open: Injured Novak Djokovic comes back from the brink to settle another five-set thriller

Novak Djokovic came back from the brink to secure a famous fourth-round win at the French Open against Francisco Cerundolo on Monday (June 3). The Serbian played another five-set thriller that lasted four hour and 39 minutes in front of a packed Philippe Chatrier court, a day after serenading them with another 3 am finish - the latest in thehistory of Roland Garros.

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The short turnaround meant Djokovic could not recover from the physical exertion and had to dig deep to ultimately emerge victorious with the scoreline reading6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 against the Argentinian who missed out on the golden opportunity to kill the game when he had the chance.

"Three or four times I was points away from losing this match and thank you to my opponent," said Djokovic.

"He [Cerundolo] deserves so much applause that's for sure. I'm not sure how I won this match again," he added.

The 24-time Grand Slam winner started off the match in an impressive manner, breaking the youngster in the fourth game. Djokovic went on to secure the set butCerundolo found some rhythm at the end which he carried into the subsequent sets.

Early on in the second set, Djokovic felt something in his left leg and called for a medical timeout after moving gingerly across the court. The Serbian could be seen holding his knee during the treatment but returned to an applauding crowd, wanting to see the defending champion give it a serious go.

The Serbian lost considerable edge after the treatment as he started off with a double fault. However, he managed to hold his serve up until the 12th game whereCerundolo converted the 13th break point of the match.

During one of the few unscheduledbreaks in the second set, Djokovic could also be seen having a go at the officials for notmopping up the area near the baseline.

The third set brought more misery for DjokovicasCerundolo constructed the points beautifully, leaving the former in no man's land on most of the returns. The usually combative Djokovic could not compete and lost the set rather tamely.

The comeback

When it looked like the end of the road for him, Djokovic managed to reignite his spark andbroke Cerundolo in the eighth game of the fourth set. The Argentine, who was so close to an improbable victory, could not wrestle the momentum from thereon as Djokovic went on to take the set for a grandstand finish to the match.

The final set lived up to its billing as both players broke each other early in the set before Djokovic asserted himself. Despite taking a rough tumble in the clay and having another go at the officials, Djokovic managed to hold his own toset up a quarter-final clash against either Taylor Fritz or Casper Ruud.

The victory gave him a record 370th Grand Slam win, eclipsing the mark he had shared with Roger Federer.