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Novak Djokovic, a three-time French Open champion who is now chasing his 25th Grand Slam, will face Filip Misolic of Austria in the third round of French Open on Saturday, May 31. Misolic is ranked 153rd in the world and had attained a career-high ranking of World No. 126 in 2023.
Misolic is currently the Austrian No. 2, behind Sebastian Ofner. He trained with Djokovic prior to last year's US Open and will now face the legendary Serb in a Grand Slam.
Misolic beat Yunchaokete Bu of China 5-7 7-6 (3) 7-6 (4) 6-1 in the first round of this year's French Open. In the second round, he caused a big upset by toppling 27th-seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada 7-6 (5) 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 4-6 6-3 to set up the clash with Djokovic. Notably, he entered the main draw after competing in the qualifiers.
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This has been the deepest run for Filip Misolic in a Grand Slam:
Hailing from Graz, Austria, Misolic never reached the third round of any other Grand Slam previously. He turned pro in 2019 and rates clay as his favorite surface. The 23-year-old Austrian has won three Challenger-level tournaments on clay so far.
He also reached an ATP final in Kitzbuhel in 2022, beating players like Pablo Andujar and Dusan Lajovic in the process. It remains his finest run in an ATP tournament till date.
Misolic has previously faced Grand Slam winners like Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem, but Djokovic is going to be his most high-profile opponent.
The Austrian has played mostly in Challenger-level tournaments till date. In fact, the Zagreb Open and the Bucharest Open are the only two ATP tournament he has played in recent months. In Zagreb, he reached the quarterfinals before losing to Luca van Aseche of the Netherlands.
In Bucharest, too, he reached the quarterfinals before losing to Flavio Cobolli of Italy. Thus, He has come up with decent performances whenever he has got the opportunity to play in ATP-level tournaments in recent times.
It will be a huge test against Djokovic for the Austrian:
Djokovic will be hungry for a title at Roland Garros. He has recently won his 100th career ATP singles title in Geneva and will be gunning for glory at French Open.
Hence, the challenge for Misolic will be to make a match of it by taking a set or two off the Serb. Should he be able to cause another upset, it will be the biggest day of his career so far.
