MELBOURNE – Novak Djokovic lived on in the fight to defend his Australian Open crown with an extraordinary five-hour, five-set win over Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka yesterday to reach the quarter-finals.
Report by Supersport
The Serb world No 1 had to dig deep to see off 15th-seeded Wawrinka’s brave challenge before prevailing 1-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 12-10 in a draining 5hr 2min match that finished at 1:41am local time.
Djokovic somehow has to regroup for his quarter-final otomorrow against Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych.
Wawrinka, the Swiss Davis Cup partner of Roger Federer, produced arguably his finest match to take the three-time Australian Open champion Djokovic to the brink in a desperately-fought 104-minute final set.
Wawrinka had lost his last 10 encounters with Djokovic going back to 2006, but he produced 69 winners and seven service breaks to have the Serb in deep trouble at times during the epic match.
But Djokovic was ultimately able to reach his 15th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final and take his career five-set record to 18-6.
Wawrinka stunned the world No 1 with three service breaks to capture the opening set in just 25 minutes. Djokovic broke Wawrinka’s opening service in the second set, but the shocks continued when the top seed was broken for the fourth consecutive service game to level.
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The Swiss, serving powerfully, fought off a break point to crucially hold serve in the third game and keep the pressure on Djokovic.
Djokovic, who had trouble keeping his footing during rallies, changed his shoes, but it mattered little as Wawrinka broke serve for the fifth straight time with a ripping backhand.
The Swiss was in the zone at 4-1 and could do little wrong as Djokovic probed for a way back into the match. But the first chinks appeared when Wawrinka was broken serving for the second set as Djokovic began to get more into the play. Wawrinka lost his serve for the third time in the set with a netted forehand and Djokovic served out to level the match.
