When Novak Djokovic misplaced a 23-stroke rally on set level within the second set in opposition to Jaume Munar, he flipped over on his again and lay on the courtroom, completely exhausted.
What might the 38-year-old probably have left to provide after two hours in brutal situations, with nothing determined?
Quite a bit.
Djokovic picked himself off the canvas, performed a particularly aggressive deciding set and got here away with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 victory to turn into the oldest Masters 1000 quarterfinalist in historical past.
Between the second and third units the medical workforce attended to Djokovic, who had nonetheless simply barely caught his breath, checking his blood strain and consulting with him. The four-time main champion had already struggled with a foot challenge within the match, receiving a medical timeout within the opening set.
In brief, issues have been wanting bleak.
In the meantime, sensing that it was his time to strike, a fired-up Munar sprinted previous Djokovic, sending a transparent message to start the ultimate set.
That message was acquired by Djokovic, and vollied again with curiosity.
The 24-time main champion struck early, benefiting from a horrific miscue by Munar, who missed a straightforward smash at 40-15. Three factors later the Serbian icon struck, breaking to open the set with a 1-0 lead.
The momentum continued, as Djokovic ramped up his aggression, taking huge cracks off of each wings as he ultimately scored the double-break within the seventh recreation to increase his result in 5-2.
The 38-year-old dropped simply 4 factors on serve within the closing set, and two within the closing recreation, however he transformed his second match level to shut the harrowing affair in two hours and 35 minutes of pure drama and true grit.
Djokovic completed with 32 winners and received 21 of 30 factors on the internet as he denied Munar his first Masters quarterfinal. The No.3 seed, who owns event information for wins (42) and titles (4), improves to 26-0 after successful the primary set this season.
