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Novak Djokovic overcame a couple of tumbles to the court to get back to the Australian Open quarter-finals, beating number 15 Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3.
The night after Roger Federer was stunned by Greek tyro Stefanos Tsitsipas, there was another sniff of an upset at Rod Laver Arena as 22-year-old Medvedev rocked the Serb with a furious assault of power hitting.
The three-hour, 15-minute struggle saw a series of energy-sapping baseline exchanges, with one point lasting 42 strokes.
Djokovic's next opponent is number eight Kei Nishikori, whose own fourth-rounder was even more gruelling, going to a fifth-set tiebreaker and lasting 5 hours and 5 minutes.
After besting Medvedev, Djokovic joked during an on-court interview that he was ready for the challenge.
"It was definitely a physical battle," Djokovic said.
"It is difficult to go through him and I had to find another way to go through him.
"In this kind of match you just have to hang in there and wait for your opportunities."
"Since I guess my next opponent is watching, I'm feeling fantastic," he said.
Djokovic has won six of his 14 Grand Slam titles at Melbourne Park and is into his 10th quarter-final at the hard-court tournament.
However, he exited in the fourth round last year and the second round in 2017.
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