Djokovic Fights Back As Rain Stops Play At Roland Garros

Top seed and three-time former finalist Novak Djokovic leads No. 14 seed Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6, 6-4, 4-1 on Tuesday, when rained stopped play at Roland Garros. Play was officially cancelled for the day at 5:50 p.m. local time.

Djokovic is bidding to reach the last eight at a Grand Slam championships for the 28th successive time, while Bautista Agut is looking to reach his first quarter-final in his 15th major appearance.

Play had been originally set to begin at 11 a.m. local time, but it did not start until 12:10 p.m. at Stade Roland Garros, in south-west Paris.

After an early exchange of service breaks, Bautista Agut took a 4-2 lead by striking cleanly down the lines. Although Djokovic broke back for 3-4, Bautista Agut responded to win two games in a row and wrap-up the 37-minute opener. Djokovic had previously won the first set in 20 straight Grand Slam championships matches and 37 of 38 Grand Slam matches since 2014.

Heavy rain returned at 12:46 p.m., which resulted in a lengthy delay. In spite of light rain, play resumed at 3:28 p.m. with fans under umbrellas.

Djokovic returned to Court Philippe Chatrier, adopting a new game plan: playing safe down the middle and striking through the ball. Bautista Agut came under pressure on serve, but managed to save five break points in his first two service games. With Djokovic leading 3-2, there followed five straight breaks of serve. Much to his relief, Djokovic converted his second set point opportunity.

By now, neither player trusted their footing on the crushed brick. But play continued into the third set, with Djokovic saving one break point in the first game. The World No. 1 then broke Bautista Agut in the fourth game en route to a 4-1 lead, before organisers stopped at 4:51 p.m. local time.

Bautista Agut is 0-4 against players at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and 5-27 versus Top 10 stars overall.

There was no play due to rain on Monday, which represented the first washout since 30 May 2000.