Lorenzo Musetti suffers Novak Djokovic heartbreak again, retires despite taking two set lead at Australian Open

Lorenzo Musetti just doesn't seem to have any luck when it comes to facing Novak Djokovic with the Italian seemingly coasting towards finally beating him at a Grand Slam and then injury reared its head at the Australian Open.

A cruel end for Musetti and an easy albeit having gone two and a bit sets down against the Italian passage for Djokovic who now faces off against Jannik Sinner likely in the semi-finals. The main Italian and current defending champion faces off against Ben Shelton in the main game this morning.

Djokovic now goes 10-1 up on Musetti in terms of their Head to Head and most of their meetings have been characterised by the fact that Musetti has often gone ahead and then fallen apart especially in Grand Slams. Albeit on this occasion it looked very much unlikely until it happened that Musetti would fold at the Australian Open.

He was leading 6-4, 6-3, 3-1. He produced a superb quarter-final display to open up a two set lead but disaster started to strike in the third game of the third set. Although Musetti tried to continue after receiving treatment from the physio at 2-1, the Italian was ultimately forced to stop after two hours and eight minutes on the court.

"I don’t know what to say except that I feel really sorry for him. He was the far better player — I was on my way home tonight. I don’t know what to say," said Djokovic.

I mean, these kinds of things happen in sport, and it happened to me a few times, but being in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, two sets to love up and being in full control — it’s so unfortunate. I don’t know what else I can say. I really wish him a speedy recovery, and he should have been the winner today, no doubt.

Trying a more aggressive strategy, he said that it worked but it didn't as was in full evidence. "The strategy worked very well for the first couple of games, and then it changed completely. I had four winners in the first two games and no unforced errors, and then the rest of the match I had another four winners and probably 40 errors. That’s what Lorenzo does to you. He makes you play when you think the point is finished — it’s not.

"Obviously, with a little bit more wind today, swirly conditions, when you attack him you don’t know what to expect — whether it’s going to be a passing shot cross-court, a short slice, whether he’s going to go full flat into your body, or just a looping ball to my weakest shot, which is the overhead. I think we’ve seen that today again. What can I say? I tried my best. I can’t complain.

"Yes, blister here and there, nothing that really majorly bothered me. I just wasn’t feeling the ball today in the first couple of sets, but that’s also due to his quality and his variety in the game. I’m just extremely lucky to get through this one today."

He also knows in his mind that he's used nine lives thus far. "To be quite frank, I have no idea at this stage of my career what really serves me and what doesn’t. I mean, look — I had a walkover in the fourth round, and today I should have been beaten. I was two sets to love down and I get the win.

"I’m going to double my prayers tonight for sure, and my gratitude to God for really giving me this opportunity once again. I’m going to do my best in a couple of days to use it."

He will also watch the next match to see who his opponent is. "For sure I’ll watch the match. I’ll watch it with my team and try to get some insights into both of these guys’ games. Nevertheless, my main priority remains my game.

"I played really well throughout the whole tournament until today. Today, I’m definitely not happy with my performance, but it’s another day in the office. Hopefully in a couple of days’ time I can come out and be at my best, because that’s what’s going to be needed."