02 June,2016 08:45 AM IST | | AFP
Serbian sees off Spaniard Bautista Agut with 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 win to become first player to reach $100m in prize money, move into a 28th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final and 36th overall
Novak Djokovic celebrates his fourth round win against Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut with a ball boy at the French Open in Paris yesterday
Paris: World No 1 Novak Djokovic became the first player to reach the $100 million prize money mark when he made the French Open quarter-finals for the 10th time Wednesday.
Novak Djokovic celebrates his fourth round win against Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut with a ball boy at the French Open in Paris yesterday. Pic/AFP
The 29-year-old started the tournament with $99,673,404 in the bank and the 294,000 euros ($328,303) he earned by beating Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut took him past the landmark figure. Top seed Djokovic defeated the Spanish 14th seed 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 to move into a 28th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final and 36th in all.
He will take on Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych for a place in the semi-finals.
Djokovic, seeking a first French Open title to complete a career Grand Slam, was 4-1 ahead of Bautista Agut in the third set when play was halted due to rain on Tuesday.
The Serb quickly wrapped up the next two games yesterday and despite falling a break down to trail 2-4 in the fourth, he stormed back to claim victory on a second match point.
"With my coaching team, we had some tough talks on Tuesday night," said Djokovic, who had struggled on the previous day dropping serve five times. "But I came back with intensity even though it was a tough mentally and physically."
Roger Federer has made $98,011,727 from prize money and stands second on the all-time list.
