An ailing Djokovic had heavy strapping and wanted remedy twice on his troublesome left hamstring earlier than defeating Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena.
Novak Djokovic. Picture: Twitter/@DjokerNole
MELBOURNE – Novak Djokovic’s hamstring nearly held up as the recent favorite battled into the Australian Open final 16 on Saturday, but Andy Murray’s heroic run is over.
Hard-hitting Aryna Sabalenka in the meantime burnished her title credentials as she barrelled by way of, together with a number of different girls’s seeds.
An ailing Djokovic had heavy strapping and wanted remedy twice on his troublesome left hamstring earlier than defeating Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena.
The Serb will face house hope Alex de Minaur for a spot in the quarter-finals as he closes on a tenth Melbourne Park crown and a record-equalling twenty second Grand Slam title.
“Obviously, I didn’t know how I’m going to feel physically, it was going up and down,” mentioned Djokovic.
“It was an incredible battle, three sets over three hours. Let’s rest up and prepare for the next one.”
Djokovic’s fellow 35-year-old Murray won’t be a part of him in the following spherical, nevertheless, because the Briton’s 4:05 am end ultimately caught up with him.
Former primary Murray was clearly feeling the results of his epic five-setter in spherical two, which began on Thursday but ended in the early hours of Friday.
The Twenty fourth-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut gained 6-1, 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 6-4 and faces unseeded Tommy Paul of the United States.
“I gave everything that I had the last three matches — I’m very proud of that,” mentioned Murray.
“But I’m also disappointed because I put loads of work into the beginning of this year and was playing well enough to have a really good run, have a deep run.”
Also in the boys’s draw, fifth seed Andrey Rublev surged right into a conflict with Holger Rune — then thanked his overwhelmed opponent Dan Evans for giving him a banana mid-match.
The Russian crushed the Briton 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 to make the fourth spherical for a 3rd time.
He will face Danish teenager Rune for a spot in the quarter-finals after the ninth seed survived a nasty fall to comb previous unseeded Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7/5).
His buddy and twenty fifth seed Evans threw a banana to Rublev at a changeover when he ran out.
“I didn’t ask him, I asked the ball boy, but Danny asked for bananas earlier and he had two so he just said ‘take it’, and I caught it,” mentioned Rublev.
In two all-American matches, Jeffrey Wolf strolled previous Michael Mmoh in three units whereas Paul made equally mild work of Jenson Brooksby.
OMINOUS SABALENKA
Sabalenka is constructing a head of steam in her pursuit of a primary Grand Slam title.
The Belarusian fifth seed blew away Twenty sixth-seeded Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-3 to arrange a conflict with Olympic champion Belinda Bencic.
Thirtieth seed Karolina Pliskova and twenty third seed Zhang Shuai additionally went by way of in straight units on day six at Melbourne Park, and can conflict in the fourth spherical.
Sabalenka is attempting to not get carried away.
The Minsk-born 24-year-old teased the Margaret Court Arena crowd for supporting Belgium’s Mertens over her, but mentioned she was having fun with the experience into the second week.
“About the favourite, that I am on that favourite list… I mean, it’s really good that I’m there,” mentioned the Belarusian, who’s but to drop a set.
“But I better focus on myself, on my game, make sure that my dream will happen.”
Bencic has additionally not dropped a set in Melbourne. The Swiss twelfth seed eased previous unseeded Italian Camila Giorgi 6-2, 7-5.
Also into the fourth spherical is the 17-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova, who beat her fellow Czech Marketa Vondrousova in three units. She faces Donna Vekic of Croatia.
“It feels pretty surreal,” {the teenager} instructed reporters.
“It’s an incredible feeling. I’m just so happy and excited to be able to say: ‘Hi second week!'”
French fourth seed Caroline Garcia fought again after a disastrous first set to beat world quantity 158 Laura Siegemund 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.