Quick Matches At Round 4 Of French Open After Djokovic Late Night Encounter Against Musetti

Novak Djokovic survived a third round scare as he overcame Italian Lorenzo Musetti in a late night five-set thriller that ended past 3 AM on Sunday morning. The late-night match put the scheduling of the French Open under scrutiny as players were forced to play matches past midnight. Nevertheless, the round 4 matches went underway in quick fashion without any weather delays.

© Cédric Lecocq / FFT

All four of the women’s fourth round matches planned for the day were completed in straight sets with seeds 1, 3, 5 and 8 coming through to the quarterfinals. Most notably the women's top seed Swiatek blitz past Potapova in straight sets 6-0, 6-0 in just 40 minutes. It was a stellar performance by Swiateck, who dropped just 10 points and made only 2 unforced errors, as she puts past the second round scare against former world number 1 Naomi Osaka. 

In the men's draw, all of the fourth round matches went underway on time as none went the distance. The men’s 3rd Carlos Alcaraz got past the big serving 21st seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, bringing their Lexus Head2Head to 3-3. Also, Grigor Dimitrov extended his lead in the Lexus Head2Head against Hubert Hurkacz to 6-0 as he wins the match in three tight sets 7-6(5), 6-4, 7-6(3) to secure his maiden quarterfinals appearance at Roland Garros. 

The heavy weather conditions at the French Open is a huge factor in the packed schedule. The schedule heavily depended on the weather where the matches were played at the outdoor courts. The wet weather conditions slowed down the pace of play, resulting in longer rallies and extending the matches beyond expectations.

As we move into the second week in Paris, I'm looking forward to the blockbuster matches set up in the quarterfinals as most seeds are through.