World primary Novak Djokovic collapsed to the bottom after he was struck on the top by a bottle on the Italian Open on Friday.
Djokovic, nonetheless to win a title this yr, recovered from a sluggish begin to see off fortunate loser Corentin Moutet and transfer into the third spherical in Rome.
But simply moments after his victory, the 36-year-old suffered an “accidental” blow to his head as he made his method off the courtroom.
Djokovic fell to the bottom for greater than half a minute earlier than he returned to his toes, flanked by a number of officers, after which headed to the medical centre.
A press release from the Italian Open learn: “Novak Djokovic has been accidentally hit by a bottle while signing autographs after his 6-3 6-1 win against France’s Corentin Moutet at the Italian Open.
“This will not be being handled as a deliberate act, however as an accident. A boy was calling out to get an autograph and the bottle fell out of his bag. Novak has been taken to the medical centre.”
Djokovic had made a nervy opening to the primary set as Moutet broke twice to maneuver 3-1 forward.
The Serbian, although, fought again with two breaks of his personal earlier than serving out the opening set in 45 minutes.
There was a light-hearted second in the beginning of the second set when the alarm on Moutet’s telephone in his bag went off, with the Frenchman making a fast sprint to his chair to hit the cease button.
With Djokovic 2-0 up after an early break, the world primary observed a gap close to the baseline on his facet of the courtroom, which was shortly patched up earlier than additional clay was bedded in in the course of the subsequent change of ends.
After such a promising begin, Moutet was starting to lose his cool – and was warned by the umpire after kicking the web in frustration after sliding in for a forehand.
Djokovic – competing in his first match for the reason that semi-finals in Monte Carlo – stored the stress on Moutet’s serve to carry up a match level, which he took on the first alternative with a forehand volley to finish his 6-3 6-1 win.
Former champion Alexander Zverev, the world quantity three, defeated Aleksandar Vukic 6-0 6-4 whereas veteran Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov swept previous Yoshihito Nishioka 7-5 6-4 on Court 12.
Fifth seed Casper Ruud, although, suffered a shock defeat as Miomir Kecmanovic got here from behind to win 0-6 6-4 6-4 – the Serbian having recovered after leaving the courtroom for a medical time-out late on within the first set.
Number 11 seed Taylor Fritz ended the hopes of dwelling wildcard Fabio Fognini because the American got here by 6-3 6-4.
Ben Shelton maintained his spectacular clay-court type because the 21-year-old American got here from behind to beat Pavel Kotov 4-6 6-3 6-4 and attain the third spherical in Rome for the primary time.
Portugal’s Nuno Borges knocked out fifteenth seed Alexander Bublik 6-4 6-4 and Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro was a 6-1 6-3 winner over Australian quantity 32 seed Jordan Thompson.
Luciano Darderi and qualifier Francesco Passaro delighted the house assist with wins over seeds Mariano Navone and Tallon Griekspoor respectively.
Source: www.anews.com.tr