Grigor Dimitrov’s French Open struggles go on as Fernando Verdasco books last-16 meeting with Novak Djokovic

Dimitrov has won a clay-court title – in Bucharest in 2014 – and reached the semi-finals in Monte Carlo six weeks ago, but his form always seems to desert him here

Grigor Dimitrov fell to defeat against Fernando Verdasco (Getty Images)

There is no obvious reason why Grigor Dimitrov should not be successful on clay, but the world No 5 will have to wait at least another year before making his first appearance in the fourth round of the French Open. On his eighth visit to Roland Garros the 27-year-old Bulgarian was beaten here on Friday by Fernando Verdasco, who won 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 to secure a meeting in the last 16 with Novak Djokovic.

Dimitrov has won a clay-court title – in Bucharest in 2014 – and reached the semi-finals in Monte Carlo six weeks ago, but his form always seems to desert him here. This was his seventh meeting at Roland Garros with an opponent ranked in the world’s top 50 and he has lost every one of them.

Although Djokovic claimed the biggest title of his career when he won the year-ending Nitto ATP Finals in London last November, he has yet to build on that breakthrough. He was beaten by Kyle Edmund in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in January and then lost first time out in Dubai, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome.

Dimitrov nearly went out in the second round here before beating Jared Donaldson 10-8 in the final set of a match that lasted four hours and 19 minutes. However, he refused to blame his latest defeat on fatigue.

“Physically I felt good, but I think I lost my nerve early after I lost that first set,” Dimitrov said after losing to Verdasco for the second time this year. “It was tough to recover from that, but even so I still had some time to get into a rhythm, get into a different match, and it just didn’t happen.”

He added: “Every year I pretty much play well on the clay but never well enough to have a better result.Unfortunately, that’s the current situation. I don’t want to get too down on myself, because it is what it is.

“I definitely need to take some time off now to reassess the whole clay-court season. I think that’s going to be the No 1 priority for me now, to step out from tennis for a little bit, watch some matches and try to progress somehow and just get better.”

Verdasco is through to the fourth round here for the seventh time, but the 34-year-old Spaniard has never made the quarter-finals. He has also lost his last five meetings with Djokovic, who survived a wobble against Roberto Bautista Agut to win 6-4, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2.

Grigor Dimitrov (Getty Images)

Djokovic lost his composure after letting the second set slip from his grasp. The 2016 champion saved two set points in the tie-break but then smashed his racket on the playing surface after missing a forehand to go 6-7 down.

The world No 22, who is ranked nine places lower than Bautista Agut, lost the next point as well and looked to be in further trouble when his opponent served for the third set at 5-3. However, Bautista Agut failed to take that chance and went on to lose the tie-break 7-4.

Djokovic coasted thereafter. Although he was broken when serving for the match at 5-1 in the fourth set, he went on to break serve for the eighth time in the match to secure a hard-fought victory after three hours and 48 minutes.

“I’m a bit tired but I’m very happy to win against a player who’s a specialist on this surface,” Djokovic said afterwards. “He plays with a lot of patience – too much patience for my liking! The conditions were difficult. We played in sun and rain, but at least it made for a special match.”

Alexander Zverev, the No 2 seed, came back from two-sets-to-one down for the second round in a row to beat Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-5 after nearly four hours in one of the best matches of the tournament so far. The 21-year-old German, who is through to the last 16 here for the first time, has yet to play in a Grand Slam quarter-final.

Dzumhur, the world No 29, hit some wonderful drop shots and the two men played a succession of thrilling rallies which delighted the crowd on Court Philippe Chatrier, where Zverev had never won before.

Zverev, who had never previously beaten a top 50 player at a Grand Slam tournament, saved a match point with a service winner at 4-5 in the fifth set, broke in the following game and then served out for victory.

“I think it was important to see for myself that I can win back-to-back five-set matches,” Zverev said afterwards.

“Both were very difficult, physical matches.I was feeling fine physically, so for me that gives me a lot of confidence going deep into the fifth set, playing long matches on this kind of surface and knowing that I’m fit enough to last as long as I want. This gives me a lot of confidence, of course, and I think it was an important point to prove to myself as well.