French Open: Seppi forces Djokovic to the brink of defeat

In adverse conditions, with strong winds and slow sand surfaces, Seppi had great difficulty finding his way into the game. Djokovic, on the other hand, acted confidently as usual and moved away to 3-0 after a short time. When everything was already pointing to the Serb winning the first set, Seppi spoke up impressively: After a strong serve and his first break, he really plucked up courage and finally equalized 3-3 with his own service. Then it was Djokovic's turn again, who took the lead 4-3. But Seppi didn't let the wind be taken out of his sails and immediately countered to make it 4:4. As a result, the 28-year-old from Kaltern even took the serve from “Nole” for the second time. Now Seppi was completely unleashed and put his rival on the defensive with precise forehand shots. After 49 minutes, he finally used his first set point to make it 6:4 .

Seppi was already assured of a major success at this point, considering that in the previous seven duels he had only managed to take a set from Djokovic twice. But the tall Überetscher was far from satisfied with that.

In the second set he continued to stand up to the world's best tennis player and moved to 2:2 with a successful serve game of his own before breaking Djokovic to make it 3:2. Seppi now offered the tennis of his life and made the exceptional talent from Eastern Europe look old several times over. This was followed by a score of 4:2. Afterwards, both opponents showed no weaknesses in their own serve game - until 5:4, when Seppi served to win the set, but Djokovic reshuffled the cards with a break. The Serb then increased the pressure with the score 6:5. But the South Tyrolean didn't let himself be disturbed and used the sixth ball to make it 6:6. Seppi didn't show any nerves in the tiebreak either: when the score was 6:5, he used his first set point against Djokovic's serve. At this point, the audience in the fully occupied “Philippe Cartrie” sensed a huge sensation.

Djokovic is fighting back

The 25-year-old Serb, who had been visibly impressed by Seppi's courageous game up to this point, only gradually found his old strength in the third set. This was marked by a total of six breaks, four in Djokovic's favor and two for Seppi. The world number one achieved the deciding factor when the score was 3:3. After that he didn't give Seppi any more chances and confidently moved to 6:3.

The “Azzurro”’s interim low lasted well into the fourth set. So he hardly offered any resistance to Djokovic until he made it 3-0, but then - similar to the first set - he fought his way back with some impressive power tennis. Suddenly he brought his serve through again and once again took Djokovic's service. Seppi was now back in rhythm and equalized to 3:3. Both rivals then had an exciting head-to-head race before Seppi fell behind at 5:6 and Djokovic used his first set point.

Decision in the fifth sentence

In the decisive fifth round, Djokovic set the pace, but Seppi continued to fight with self-sacrifice and repeatedly surprised his opponent with long, precise balls - even though coach Massimo Sartori's protégé had to go over five sets twice in the tournament so far. Only after Djokovic broke him when the score was 2:3 did Seppi's strength gradually dwindle. Although he was later able to reduce the score to 3:5, Djokovic didn't let the victory be taken away from him when he served on his own serve. He converted his first match point to make it 6:3 in the fifth set.

Nevertheless, Andreas Seppi's outstanding performance was recognized with a long standing ovation at the Center Court in Roland Garros. After reaching the round of 16 in Paris, Seppi will continue to climb up the world rankings.

The eight games between Andreas Seppi and Novak Djokovic (0:8 wins):

Grand Slam Paris 2012: -6:4, 7:6(5), 3:6, 5:7, 3:6 Masters Monte Carlo 2012: -1:6, 4:6 Masters Madrid 2009: -4:6, 4:6 Belgrade 2009: -6:4, 1:6, 2:6 Masters Cincinnati 2008: -1:6, 2:6 Masters Indian Wells 2008: -3:6, 6:7(3) Vienna 2007: -4:6, 3:6 Rotterdam 2006: -2:6, 6:2, 5:7

Seppi's record at Roland Garros (13 games, 6 wins, 7 losses)

2012 1st round: + Nikolai Davydenko (RUS/ATP 47) 6:3, 7:6 (5), 7:5 2nd round: + Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ/ATP 55) 6:7, 6:2, 2:6, 6:1, 6:2 3rd round: + Fernando Verdasco (ESP/ATP 16) 7:5, 3:6, 6:3, 4:6, 6:2 Round of 1: - Novak Djokovic (SRB/ATP 6) 4:7, 6:5(3), 6:5, 7:3, 6:XNUMX

2011 1st round: + Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS/ATP 85) 6:3, 7:5, 7:5 2nd round: - Tomaz Bellucci (BRA/ATP 25) 1:6, 2:6, 4:6

2010 1st round: + Santiago Ventura (ESP/ATP 119) 7:5, 6:4, 7:5 2nd round: - Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER/ATP 35) 6:7(5), 3:6, 5:7

2009: 1st round: + Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP/ATP 50) 6:3, 6:3, 6:1 2nd round: - Maximo Gonzalez (ARG(ATP 71) 6:7(8), 3-:6, 3:6

2008: 1st round: - Mario Ancic (CRO/ATP 46) 2:6, 6:7(1), 2:6

2007: 1st round: - Carlos Moya (ESP/ATP 26) 1:6, 6:3, 3:6, 6:2, 0:6

2006: 1st round: - Evgeny Korolev (KAZ/ATP 151) 4:6, 6:2, 6:3, 5:7, 1:6

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French Open: Seppi forces Djokovic to the brink of defeat

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