Novak Djokovic won't be playing in the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters quarterfinals after he lost to Lorenzo Musetti.
The third-round meeting between the 22-time Grand Slam champion and the 21-year-old Italian promised to be a great spectacle and it delivered as it was a roller-coaster ride for both players who were fighting for the quarterfinal spot at the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters.
Since the start of the match, the crowd at the Monte-Carlo Country Club supported Musetti and the Italian youngster wanted to use the crowd's support to his advantage. However, in the past, the two met three times on the ATP Tour and Djokovic won all three matches.
This time, the Serb started well again. He broke Musetti in the fourth match, but he didn't know that it would start a series of breaks that would turn into the main storyline of the match. Djokovic soon lost his advantage but then regained it again as he led already 5-2 in the first set.
The Serb had two set points on his opponent's serve in the eighth game, but after he couldn't use those, he wanted to win the first set by a strong hold of serve. But he couldn't use another set point and Musetti was back in it.
But not for a long time as Djokovic built a big 40-0 lead on Musetti's serve in the next game, and after converting his sixth set point of the first set, the 35-year-old won the first set 6-4.
In the second set, the Serb got off to a strong start again and led already 4-2. After losing the one-break advantage once more, the moment that overshadowed the match stole the show.
Umpire Aurelie Tourte incorrectly judged one of the balls and stole a clear point from Djokovic. The Serb then lost the second set and had to battle in the decider. But the rain stopped the action already in the third game.
After the players returned, Djokovic couldn't find his A-game as inspired Musetti broke him in the seventh game and the Serb couldn't answer. In the tenth game of the third set, the Italian served for the match and despite facing a break point, he managed to serve out the match and win it 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 to set up an all-Italian quarterfinal meeting with the seventh-seeded Jannik Sinner.
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