Unknown Italian stuns Djokovic

Tennis

Former tennis world No 1 Novak Djokovic has been dumped out of the French Open in the quarterfinals by an opponent who until last week had never won a grand slam match.

The way he faltered at the most crucial of moments in Paris yesterday might have hurt the Serb the most as he fell 6-3 7-6(4) 1-6 7-6(11) to world No 72 Italian Marco Cecchinato.

It was a rollicking match filled with long points and plenty of drama.

‘‘He held his nerves amazingly well in important moments,’’ acknowledged Djokovic, who said he isn’t certain whether he will play at Wimbledon.

Djokovic served for the fourth set at 5-3 but got broken. He then held three set points in the tiebreaker but couldn’t convert any.

‘‘It’s a pity I could not capitalise on the chances I had,’’ said Djokovic.

Cecchinato came through on his fourth match point, looping in a backhand return winner as Djokovic tried to surprise him with a serve-and-volley attempt.

Cecchinato, who dropped onto his back on the clay after winning, is the lowest-ranked man to get to the semifinals in Paris in 19 years – and about as unlikely as anyone to get this far at a big tournament.

Told in an on-court interview that he wasn’t dreaming, Cecchinato responded: ‘‘Are you sure?’’

The 25-year-old from Sicily was a controversial player, having been suspended for 18 months and fined €40,000 (NZ$66,000) by his national federation in July 2016, accused of losing on purpose at a lower-tier Challenger event in Morocco a year earlier. Eventually, the Italian Olympic Committee announced that sanctions were dropped on a technicality.

Cecchinato has never won a tour-level match on a surface other than red clay; as it is, he entered this season with a career record of 4-23.

He arrived at Roland Garros with a 0-4 mark in the majors, and dropped the first two sets in the first round before coming all the way back to win 10-8 in the fifth. Since then, employing a smooth one-handed backhand, he has beaten players seeded No 8 (David Goffin) and No 10 (Pablo Carreno Busta), before adding former No 1 Djokovic to his list.

Next up: No 7 seed Dominic Thiem, of Austria, who made it to his third consecutive French Open semifinal by beating No 2 Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-4

6-2 6-1 earlier yesterday.

In the women’s quarterfinals, No 10 Sloane Stephens beat No 14 Daria Kasatkina, of Russia, 6-3

6-1, and No 13 Madison Keys eliminated unseeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 7-6(5)

6-4.

Stephens beat Keys in the US Open final last September, and their rematch tomorrow will be the first all-American women’s semifinal at the French Open since Serena Williams beat Jennifer Capriati in 2002.