Novak Djokovic books place in Geneva Open quarters after 90-minute victory over Yannick Hanfmann, coming from 3-0 down in second set; Britain's Jodie Burrage pulls out of French Open injured; Watch Djokovic in Geneva this week, exclusively live on Sky Sports Tennis
Thursday 23 May 2024 07:09, UK
Novak Djokovic survived a second-set scare to beat Germany's Yannick Hanfmann 6-3 6-3, progressing to the Geneva Open quarter-finals.
After securing the first set 6-3, the Serbian found himself 3-0 down in the second set and staring firmly at a third set decider vs Hanfmann - who knocked out Andy Murray on Monday - at the ATP 250 event.
Djokovic quickly found form to break back, however, kicking on to secure the second set on his 37th birthday after lifting his playing level and reeling off six games in a row to book his place in the quarters.
It was far from straightforward for Djokovic, who needed 90 minutes to get past the German.
Djokovic was a surprise entry into the event following his shock early exit at the Italian Open earlier this month to Chile's Alejandro Tabilo, two days after being accidentally struck on the head by a bottle.
After the world No 1 underwent tests, he requested a wildcard into the tournament in Switzerland, starting his campaign with a win.
British No 3 Jodie Burrage will miss the French Open after she suffered more injury disappointment.
Burrage has endured an injury-hit 2024 and has not played since she had wrist surgery in March following an issue in San Diego weeks earlier.
The world No 111 had completed her recovery and was set to try and qualify for the main draw at Roland Garros but rolled her ankle on Tuesday and will miss the second major of the year.
A bigger concern for the 24-year-old is the prospect of being absent for Wimbledon, which starts on July 1.
"Yesterday I fell and rolled my ankle whilst playing points on the clay prepping for Roland Garros," Burrage said on Instagram.
"With how it is right now I've had to withdraw from next week. I won't know the extent of the damage till I get further scans in the next few days.
"After everything with my wrist and how well my recovery has gone, it's hard to get my head around what's happened. Praying for good news in the next few days."
Burrage had started the new season strongly with a maiden main-draw appearance at the Australian Open but now faces a race against time to play in SW19.
Meanwhile, world No 5 Jessica Pegula will also not be competing at the year's second Grand Slam after withdrawing due to ongoing neck and back injuries.
American Pegula, who reached the quarter-finals in Paris in 2022, has not played in a WTA event since the Charleston Open in early April, while she also took part in Billie Jean King Cup qualifying the following week.
In a post on Instagram, the 30-year-old wrote: "I'm just back to practicing normal (haven't had any issues for weeks) but played it super safe with recovery and return to play.
"If I had another five-seven days I would have been there 100 per cent. So I will definitely be back for a full grass season and the rest of the summer and grinding out the rest of the year."
Top seed Marketa Vondrousova dropped the first set but recovered to squash qualifier Magdalena Frech 5-7 6-1 6-0 at the Internationaux de Strasbourg in France on Wednesday.
Frech, from Poland, was striving for her first win ever over a Top-10 player, but the Czech prevailed in two hours, 13 minutes. Frech fell to 0-14 against competition in the Top 10.
Vondrousova advanced to the quarter-finals, where she will face Anhelina Kalinina, a winner in three sets over wild card Fiona Ferro of France.
Also moving to the quarters were No 2 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, third-seeded Danielle Collins and No 4 seed Madison Keys, all winners in straight sets.
A pair of seeded players fell in their matches Wednesday. No 6 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia fell to Poland's Magda Linette in three sets, and No 7 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, the defending champion, was ousted in three sets by France's Clara Burel.
In Morocco, unseeded Peyton Stearns upset the sixth-seeded Xiyu Wang of China 6-3 6-1 in the second round in Rabat.
In the quarter-finals, Stearns will meet the No 4 seed, Lucia Bronzetti, who defeated fellow Italian Martina Trevisan 6-2 6-3.
Other winners were Mayar Sherif of Egypt, Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria and Laura Siegemund of Germany. Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia advanced in a walkover.
In the run-up to the second Grand Slam of 2024 - the French Open at Roland Garros from May 26 - you can watch all of the biggest tennis stars in action live on Sky Sports as they compete across the clay-court season.
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