Serb No 1 into 43rd Grand Slam quarter-finals where he will meet Kei Nishikori
Monday 21 January 2019 16:35, UK
World No 1 Novak Djokovic showed his class to overcome Russian Daniil Medvedev in four sets to reach his 10th Australian Open quarter-final.
The Serb remains on course for a record seventh title in Melbourne by seeing off 15th-seed Medvedev in a taxing encounter 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-3.
After Stefanos Tsitsipas' victory over Roger Federer on Rod Laver Arena on Sunday, Medvedev was trying to strike another blow for the next generation against the old guard.
The fiery talent had talked up his chances ahead of the match, claiming Djokovic was not the same player as at his peak and there would be chances to beat him, but ultimately wore his young opponent down to win in three hours and 15 minutes.
Asked in his on-court interview how he was feeling, Djokovic said: "Since I guess my next opponent is watching, I'm feeling fantastic, I've never felt fresher in my life.
"It was definitely a physical battle, Daniil has been playing some really good tennis in the last six months. It was difficult to go through him, I just had to find a different way.
"I was fortunate to save a couple of break points. In these kind of matches you just have to hang in there and wait for your opportunities."
Djokovic, who suffered a heavy fall in the third set, later admitted in his press conference he had felt the physical strain of the match in the latter stages.
"I didn't feel so great in the last 20 minutes of the match or so," he said.
"We'll see tomorrow (Tuesday) how the body reacts, but I'm confident I can recover and I can be ready for next one. It was not particularly the fall. It was just a little bit of fatigue, a little bit of back.
"Nothing major. But there are a couple of things that have surfaced after a match like this."
Kei Nishikori recovered from two sets down to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals with an epic win over Pablo Carreno Busta 6-7 (8-10) 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 7-6 (10-8).
It was Nishikori's third five-setter of the tournament and the second time the never-say-die eighth seed had recovered from two sets behind.
His win over the 23rd seeded Spaniard took a marathon five hours and five minutes after an opening set that alone lasted 76 minutes.
Carreno Busta left the court screaming at the umpire after feeling the point at 8-5 in the super tiebreak, when his shot was erroneously called out, should have been replayed.
The former US Open finalist moves into the quarter-finals for the fourth time where he will face top-ranked Djokovic.
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