Djokovic, Sabalenka go through after Jabeur ousted by talented teen

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic fought off another feisty challenge to reach the third round of the Australian Open yesterday after women's champion Aryna Sabalenka made more serene progress and Ons Jabeur crashed out at the hands of a schoolgirl.

Top 10 seeds Coco Gauff, Barbora Krejcikova, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas all got through their second-round contests in varying conditions as Melbourne lived up to its reputation for changeable weather.

Rain washed out more than three hours of play on the outer courts at the start of the day but the skies had long cleared by the time Djokovic took to the court where he has won 10 of his 24 Grand Slam titles.

As in his four-hour first round clash against qualifier Dino Prizmic, the 36year-old Serbian looked in full pomp in the opening set against Australian Alexei Popyrin but lost the second.

The aggressive Popyrin, backed by a crowd in full voice, had set points in the third set but Djokovic saved them and, riled by an exchange with a fan in the crowd, ran out a 6-3 4-6 76(4) 6-3 winner. "I haven't been playing my best but I'm still trying to find my form," Djokovic said. "I think both my first and second round opponents were really, really great quality tennis players and I managed to find a way to win four. That's what counts in the end."

The neighbouring Margaret Court Arena was also rocking in the evening session as locals backed Jordan Thompson as the gutsy Australian plotted an upset of Tsitsipas. Thompson took the first set but the Greek seventh seed gritted his teeth and battled back to win 4-6 7-6(6) 6-2 7-6(4) after a thrilling match where the final 13minute game and fourthset tiebreak were alone worth the admission. "