Djokovic survives five-setter v Simon to reach quarterfinals

A tense game followed as Simon saved two match points to hold but Djokovic kept his nerve, serving out easily to seal victory in four hours and 32 minutes.

Tomas Berdych has outlasted Roberto Bautista Agut in five sets to reach the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park for the sixth consecutive year.

Berdych reached the semifinals at the Australian Open a year ago before losing to Murray. Credit and congratulations to him because he played a great match.

The Serb was well below his brilliant best, hitting a mammoth 100 unforced errors, but he is safely through and will now meet Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals.

It’s Djokovic’s favourite – but there are plenty of rivals for the Serb.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia changes his socks during a break in his… He said he expected it to be tough against Simon, who is relentless in long rallies, but couldn’t remember such a high number of errors.

Here are five key points from day seven in Melbourne…

Nigel Sears will leave hospital later today and has been given the all-clear to fly home. And before today he had won 25 consecutive sets stretching back to The O2 Arena in November.

The next day he was back in action in doubles with countryman Sam Groth.

It was the third time this tournament that matches have been interrupted due to medical situations in the stands.

He was dissecting the match in an on-court interview Sunday when a burst of laughter from the crowd caught his attention. This happened prior to the pre-match meeting and no further action wil be taken.

While Simon patiently pushed and prodded Djokovic during his 6-3, 6-7 (1/7), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win, Goffin couldn t lay a glove on Federer as the clockwork Swiss purred through. Unlike Sharapova, who had to play under the roof because play started while it was lightly raining, Williams was playing with the roof open on the main arena at Melbourne Park.

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova confirmed their quarterfinal date with comparatively routine straight-sets wins, ensuring a rematch between last year’s finalists.

Gilles Simon will carry the distinction of being the first man to prise a set off Novak Djokovic at this year’s Australian Open but the lion-hearted Frenchman was crushed after going down in a five-set classic on Sunday.

Maria Sharapova is through to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open after a 7-5, 7-5 win over Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. “You’re always trying to improve”, she said.

Bencic again found herself on the wrong end of an opponent’s ace count.

She came agonizingly close to winning all four majors last year, which would have made her the first person to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam in 27 years. Last year, Bencic was on the receiving end of a WTA-record 27 aces from Sabine Lisicki. The 21-time major victor had a 55-minute, 6-2, 6-1 win over Margarita Gasparyan to set up a big match against Sharapova, a player she has beaten in 18 of their 20 matches.

“He always makes you play a lot of extra shots”.