Djokovic survives Gilles Simon scare to progress at #AusOpen

He made no mistake consolidating his second chance, taking the first set in 58 minutes despite being well below his best.

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Sharapova, the 2008 champion and four-time finalist, had to play under an indoor match because play started while it was lightly raining, but the roof was open for Williams. “It’s like hitting the reset button…”

At the end of a tight first set, he dominated the tie-break to gain an advantage and broke serve five times as he eased to victory from there.

The French player recovered to 5-3 before Djokovic closed it out a game later, sending a backhand victor down the line on his third match point.

“It’s going to be tough. I was able to do that”.

It seemed as if Berdych’s hopes hinged on that tiebreak, because he responded by dropping the first two games of the second set, letting Federer race out to an early break.

“I have to play well”. “It was definitely key to the rest of the match because I think it maybe might’ve taken some energy out of Tomas”. I know how it works up there. But you have days like this, fortunately you manage to fight your way through.

World no. 1 and five-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic survived the ultimate test against Gilles Simon, who pushed the Serb in 5 sets for more than four and a half hours. “I was obviously pleased to win the match, but in terms of the performance itself, I haven’t done well at all”. The last point counts.

Hurtling around the arena on legs that have always looked too spindly to take the kind of punishment they regularly endure, the 31-year-old Frenchman absorbed Djokovic’s power and timed his shots to perfection to hurl it back at the Serbian. I made a lot of unforced errors.

“I played a good match, I was aggressive, had some variety in there and it was quick conditions in the day session”.

“No, I don’t think I’ve had any number close to 100”, he said.

Six-time champion Serena Williams advanced to the semifinals yet again, extending her dominance in a 12-year rivalry with an 18th straight win over Maria Sharapova.

He added: “It gives me great joy to know that I can’t get worse than what I played today”.

“I have to … be the one to dictate”.

The top seed later explained: “It’s not easy when you’re not feeling the ball well and when you’re not moving that great”.

Simon is not a player with the weapons to hit his opponents off the court, but his defensive skills can make him a nightmare for even the very best on an off-day. “Sometimes you have a brain freeze, if I can call it that”.

The world number one racked up a most un-Djokovic-like total of 100 unforced errors and brought the fifth set largely upon himself with a string of botched drop-shots. “So I’m sure I’ll be fine”.

Elsewhere, there were wins in the men’s singles draw for Kei Nishikori and Tomas Berdych, while on the women’s side of the draw, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska all progressed. “He plays every match like that”, Federer said. “I have to be the one who dictates”.

He will meet No. 7 Kei Nishikori, who beat No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Federer’s fourth-round victory was in complete contrast to Djokovic’s as the world No 3 beat David Goffin 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in just 88 minutes.