Melbourne: Former champion Novak Djokovic added an apparent muscle strain in his lower back to concerns about his problem elbow but still overpowered Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the fourth round in men’s singles of the Australian Open here.
There was no such problems for defending champion Roger Federer though as he looked in sublime touch in his 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 demolotion of Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
However, Korea’s Chung Hyeon won a five-set thriller to send German fourth seed Alexander Zverev packing. The Korean showed amazing resilience in his 5-7, 7-6(7-3), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 win and a tired Zverev could not even take a game of his opponent in the fifth set. Touted as one of the favourites, Zverev was left smashing racquets in frustration.
Djokovic, after holding serve to lead 2-1 in the second set, took a medical time-out and lay down on Margaret Court Arena as a trainer worked feverishly on his lower back.
The injury did little to restrict the six-time champion Serb as he returned to break the 21st seed in the next game before rolling on to a fuss-free victory in two hours and 21 minutes. He next faces Hyeon for a place in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile in another match played at the Hisense Arena, Tomas Berdych overpowered Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. Not many players overpower DelPo but Berdych did just that to reach the fourth round.
Del Potro arrived in Melbourne with high hopes having re-entered the world’s top 10 for the first time since 2014 but was no match for the 19th-seeded Czech. “Maybe it’s the good air here,” Berdych, who hit 52 winners, said on Hisense Arena to explain his consistency in the year’s first slam.
At a glance
Fabio Fognini bt Julien Benneteau 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
Domonic Thiem bt Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-2, 7-5
Tennys Sandgren bt Maximilian Marterer 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6
Márton Fucsovics bt Nicolás Kicker 6-3, 6-3, 6-2
Agencies
