Novak Djokovic was pressured to dig deep as he battled previous Alexei Popyrin 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 to achieve the third spherical of the Australian Open
Djokovic appeared to have an issue along with his wrist, a difficulty he got here into the event with, and has additionally been unwell however he stored his successful streak on the Australian Open alive, having not misplaced in Melbourne since 2018.
He’ll face Tomas Martin Etcheverry within the final 32 after the Argentine, who beat Andy Murray within the first spherical, overcame Gael Monfils with a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory.
The opening seven video games went to serve with Djokovic 4-3 up however the world No 1 made a breakthrough when he broke Popyrin because the Australian made unforced errors on the flawed second.
Djokovic went on to take the set however Popyrin raised his recreation in response and broke his opponent to go 3-1 up within the second set.
Nevertheless, Djokovic broke again when Popyrin was serving for the set, just for the Australian to win the set on the Djokovic serve and stage issues as much as the delight of the group on the Rod Laver Area.
Some unforced errors had been creeping into Djokovic’s recreation and he was significantly struggling on the forehand, which continued within the third set.
Popyrin required a medical outing at 3-2 up on his left calf but it surely did not appear to have an effect on him. The house participant discovered himself with three set factors on Djokovic’s serve at 5-4 however didn’t take them, then missed a fourth alternative in the identical recreation because the Serb simply held on to make it 5-5.
A 3rd set tie-break was wanted and from nowhere Djokovic delivered his finest tennis of the match with some excellent photographs. Simply as he is performed during the last 15 years, when it issues most, he produces.
Djokovic was left displeased early within the fourth set after a remark from a spectator, and there have been some phrases exchanged.
It appeared to fireplace him up as a result of he broke Popyrin within the sixth recreation. Djokovic had three match factors at 5-2 up on his opponent’s serve however a decided Popyrin fought again to power the 23-time main winner to serve it out for the match.
Djokovic, who’s bidding for a record-extending eleventh Australian Open title, did so with no points and secured a spot within the final 32.
Tsitsipas battles into third spherical
Stefanos Tsitsipas was pressured to work arduous in a gruelling 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 7-6 (7-4) towards Australian Jordan Thompson.
Tsitsipas crucially received the second set tie-break regardless of squandering 4-1 and 6-3 leads earlier than finally successful it 8-6.
The Greek participant raced by way of the third set then missed two match factors at 5-4 up within the fourth. Thompson wasted 4 set factors to ship the match to a decider at 6-5 forward, so one other tie-break was required which Tsitsipas got here out on high in 7-4.
“There came a moment where things weren’t looking at my favour. There started to be a slight shift in the momentum, especially after that break when I was serving for the match,” mentioned Tsitsipas.
“This really doesn’t happen very often. I haven’t had a lot of times in my career where I wasn’t able to close the match, especially when I was serving for it.
“For me the challenge there was to not break down. I feel like it would be easy to be the guy that becomes a victim of that. But I refused that to myself because I know deep inside that I’m way better than that, and I can handle situations, difficult situations, because of my past and the things that I went through.
“This may appear a mountain to lots of people, however we’re again in equal play. I actually executed my recreation plan tremendously and on the highest peak on the tie-break.
“I was able to keep it going on a very nice flow for me, especially when I got the early mini break in the tie-break. I really felt that inner power come out. It really showed in the next few points.”
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