Paris [France]: It was not a lucky day for Serbian tennis ace Novak Djokovic, as he lost to his friend and training partner Marco Cecchinato in the Quarter-Final of the 2018 French Open in Paris.
Djokovic’s dream of capturing his second French Open title got shattered as he suffered a 3-6, 6-7(4/7), 6-1, 6-7(11/13) loss to Cecchinato.
The match came as a shock to Djokovic’s fans as Cecchinato who had never gone past the first round of a Grand Slam, dropped just one set against the former world number one.
As the match kick started, Djokovic lost the opening set 6-3 with the 12-times major winner appearing to struggle with a neck problem. He did come back in the first set and managed to hold serve but could not break back as Cecchinato took the first set 6-3.
The former champion lost the first two sets but fought back by winning the third. But after a fierce battle between the two athletes in the fourth set, Cecchinato came back to save his serve and then broke Djokovic to take it to the tie-break.
Rain also briefly threatened in the fourth set, but it seemed to revive Cecchinato, who found his form again and broke back as Djokovic served for the set at 5-3.
Cecchinato broke down in tears after the match as Djokovic walked down to his side of court and give him a hug and words of congratulations.
Cecchinato will now face Austrian champ Dominic Thiem in the semi-final. (ANI)