PARIS — Second seed Novak Djokovic was instantly handed a place in the French Open semi-finals Monday when his scheduled last-eight opponent, Fabio Fognini, pulled out of the tournament with an injury.
The 24-year-old Italian, who had been due to play his first career grand slam quarter-final, injured his left thigh in his marathon five-set fourth-round win over Albert Montanes on Sunday.
“It’s the most difficult decision I have made. It was my first grand slam,” said Fognini, the first Italian man to reach the last eight in Paris since Renzo Furlan in 1995. “I was crying last night. But I had the treatment, and I decided to retire. I had another scan this morning, and we knew that to play would aggravate the injury to the left thigh. But this is sport, this is tennis.”
Djokovic was facing a wait to discover his semi-final opponent.
France’s Gael Monfils and Spain’s David Ferrer had yet to complete their last-16 match, which was suspended Sunday evening early in the fourth set, with the winner to face third seed Roger Federer in the quarter-finals.
The eventual winner of that contest will face the Serb world number two for a place in the final.