Djokovic's marathon match outlasted fans

MELBOURNE • The Australian state of Victoria entered a five-day coronavirus lockdown to curb a local outbreak of the coronavirus variant first detected in Britain. The restrictions began at 8 a.m. Friday ET, right as Novak Djokovic was entering the fifth set of his third-round Australian Open match against Taylor Fritz.

And so we were left with the peculiar sight of fans being forced to depart Rod Laver Arena during a taut match between the world’s No. 1 player, who was labouring through an injury, and an up-and-coming American could be decided.

Djokovic, who’s hoping to add to his record tally of eight Australian Open titles, was able to pull out the 7-6 (1), 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2 victory, but appeared to injure his foot early in the third set and said afterward he didn’t know if he would be able to continue in the tournament with Sunday’s fourth-round match against Canadian Milos Raonic.

On the women’s side, 10th-seeded Serena Williams posted a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win over Anastasia Potapova.