Djokovic wins battle with fatigue to seal Melbourne quarter-final place World No 1 admits he ‘didn’t feel so great’ as he sets up last-eight clash against Nishikori
Novak Djokovic struck back for the old guard at the Australian Open yesterday.
The world No 1 soaked up the pressure from an impressive Daniil Medvedev before crushing the young Russian 6-4, 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 to reach his 10th quarter-final at Melbourne Park.
The night after Roger Federer was stunned by Greek tyro Stefanos Tsitsipas, there was another sniff of an upset at Rod Laver Arena as Medvedev, 22, rocked the Serb with a furious assault of power hitting.
Yet the Russian wearied in the constant attrition, and top seed Djokovic ended up cruising to victory, having passed easily his biggest test at what had been a sweat-free tournament.
Djokovic will continue his bid for a hat-trick of grand slam titles and a record seventh at Melbourne Park against eighth seed Kei Nishikori, who earlier squeezed past Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in a fiveset epic.
“Since I guess my next opponent is watching, I’m feeling fanstastic, never felt better in my life,” Djokovic joked in his on-court interview with Jim Courier. “I was hoping you were going to say the other guy won, but well done, Kei.
“[It was] definitely a physical battle. It was difficult to go through him ... this kind of match you just have to hang in there.
“I didn’t feel so great in the last 20 minutes of the match. So we’ll see tomorrow how the body reacts, but I’m confident I can recover and I can be ready for next one.
“It was just, you know, a little bit of fatigue, a little bit of back. Nothing major. But there are a couple of things that have surfaced.
“It was kind of a cat-and-amouse game for most of the match. We had rallies of 40, 45 exchanges. That’s why I think it was physically exhausting.
“His backhand is very, very solid. He didn’t give me much from that side, but, you know, you can’t always play on the forehand.
“You have to open up the court and try to be patient and construct the point.”
The 31-year-old Serb crucially saved three break points at 1-2, 0-40 in the pivotal third set to break the tenacious Medvedev’s resolve.
“Even though it was three sets to one, it seems like a five-set match, really,” said Djokovic.
“It was draining physically a lot, because, you know, you just could not rely on the one-two punch tactics.”
Carreno Busta, meanwhile, apologised after he screamed at the umpire and threw his kit bag after losing to Nishikori 6-7, 4-6, 7-6 , 6-4, 7-6.
He was ahead 8-5 in the firstto-10-point deciding game when he became embroiled in a long argument with Australian umpire Thomas Sweeney after a wrong call of out.
“Obviously I’m very sad because after five hours fighting, the way that I leave from the court wasn’t correct, and I’m so sorry because that’s not me,” the 27-year-old said.
“It’s tough for me to leave the Australian Open like this, because I played an unbelievable match. Also Kei, he played really good.”
Nishikori had already spent eight hours and 42 minutes on court in his first three matches, including a second-round clash that went the full distance to a final set tie-break against Ivo Karlovic. “I feel it’s not enough,” he joked of his total of 13hr 47min on court in the first four rounds. “Not easy, of course. I will try to recover well.”
In other results, Lucas Pouille overcame Borna Coric 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time. He will face Milos Raonic, who beat Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-1, 7-6. The 21-year-old German, seen as a top contender before the tournament, smashed up one racquet in a spectacular meltdown in the second set. “I just tried to stay composed,” Raonic said.
In the women’s draw, Naomi Osaka edged past Anastasija Sevastova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to set up a quarter-final clash with Elina Svitolina, who beat American Madison Keys 6-2, 1-6, 6-1.
Karolina Pliskova thrashed two-time grand slam champion Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 6-1.
It was her eighth win in 10 career meetings against the Spaniard.